


Solangelo meet the Marauders

by imcrapatthiswritingshitbutitry



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Angst, Anxiety, Canon Gay Relationship, Crossover, Depression, F/F, F/M, Gay, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, LGBT characters, M/M, Nightmares, PTSD, Probably Original Characters - Freeform, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:34:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24461362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imcrapatthiswritingshitbutitry/pseuds/imcrapatthiswritingshitbutitry
Summary: So, a lot of people do Hogwarts crossovers, but this one's a bit different.Solangelo are sent back in time by Hecate and Hades to save James and Lily's lives (and kill Voldemort before he can start the second wizarding war) and therefore saving Harry and all his friends too.Basically, combining my two main fandoms and my two OTPs - wolfstar and solangelo.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 67
Kudos: 244





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> TRIGGER WARNINGS: panic attacks, nightmares, maybe some homophobia (but this is set after several years of solangelo being together so they're both pretty comfy with each other), depression, anxiety, possible mentions of self-harm. 
> 
> ^^Please let me know if I missed any. 
> 
> Also, btw, any panic attacks etc I write about are probably based on first-hand experience, so pls don't tell me my writing's wrong.

Nico was confused. It hadn't been a nightmare as such, just a dream, but... Why did his dad want him _and_ Will? 

Questions whizzing through his head, he made his way to the Big House where Chiron and Mr D were sitting in the lounge. The former was in his wheelchair, a blanket resting over his fake legs. The latter was drinking a can of coke, his feet up on the sofa, and both were holding a handful of cards. 

Nico knocked on the open door and said, "Erm, excuse me..." 

"What?" snapped Mr D, clearly not happy with the interruption. 

"I kinda had a dream message from my dad," said Nico. "He wants Will and me to go down and see him. He said something about a quest for Hecate." 

Chiron looked at him for a second, then glanced at Mr D, who wasn't even listening. "Okay," he said after a minute. "You and Will may go. If you can, send us Iris messages. I assume you'll be shadow-travelling?" 

Nico nodded. Chiron dismissed him and he left, heading back to the cabins to find his boyfriend. There weren't many people around yet, as he'd been to tell Chiron as soon as he'd woken up. Luckily, most of the Apollo cabin rose with the sun, so there was someone to answer the door when he knocked. 

It was Will's younger sister, Kayla. She smiled expectantly at him, an eyebrow raised: a silent question, asking what he wanted. He could tell, though, by the small smirk playing on her lips that she already knew at least part of the answer. 

"Is Will in there? Please?" he asked. 

She grinned. Obviously, her suspicions had been right. Kayla called out his name to the rest of the cabin and just a second later, his boyfriend's cheerful, smiling face was peeking out at him. 

He grinned. "Y'alright, Neeks?" he said. 

Nico nodded, paused for a split second then shook his head. "My dad wants us. Both of us. He says Hecate has a quest-mission-thing for us." 

Will frowned, looking as confused as Nico had but shrugged. "Erm - okay... do I need to pack or anything?" 

The other boy nodded again. "He said we'll be gone a while. I've already told Chiron. Dad wants us there as soon as possible." 

"All right, I'll come to your cabin when I'm ready, okay?" 

Nico just nodded again before Will closed the door on him. He walked back to his own cabin where he put together a rucksack of clothes and toiletries. His dad hadn't told him much, but when were the gods ever known for being helpful? 

A couple of minutes later, there was a gentle, familiar-sounding knocking on his door which then swung open to reveal Will's beaming smile. Freckles littered his face, especially crowding on his nose, and blonde curls danced around his face, making him look like - to Nico, at least - like one those beautiful angels in the Bible, with the halos. Basically, he was gorgeous. 

Nico smiled back and beckoned him in. Will closed the door behind him and sat on Nico's bed while the latter finished packing stuff. 

"Kayla and Austin are gonna run the infirmary. I've got a load of healing stuff, clothes, toiletries and my bow and arrows. I ain't great, but it's better than nothing. D'you reckon we'll need anything else?" 

Nico thought for a moment. "No. I'll take my sword... hmm... are you ready, then?" 

Will nodded and stood up. Both boys slung their backpacks over their shoulders before Will took Nico's hand and the latter shadow-travelled them out of the cabin. 

The son of Hades knew his boyfriend hated shadow-travelling. It was the quickest and easiest way to get to the Underworld, though. It tired him out, but being in his dad's realm seem to boost his powers, anyway, like being in the water did for Percy. 

"Dad?" Nico called out. There was no answer. 

He led Will passed the lines of souls queuing at the three gateways. They all seemed to completely ignore Nico, or move out of the way. He could tell Will didn't like any of this - it was literally the opposite of him, the son of the sun god - so he took the other boy's hand and smiled reassuringly. Nico loved the small, rosy blush that appeared on Will's cheeks. 

Getting past Cerberus was easy: Nico just cooed a little, even stroking his middle head, which earned him an overwhelmingly slobbery lick, soaking his whole right side. Will laughed and Nico just flipped him off before leading him upwards towards his dad's palace. 

"Dad?" he said again. 

Nico, still holding his hand, pulled Will into a huge, black throne room. There were green Greek-fire torches lining the stone walls and the whole room had different soldiers from throughout history - Greek warriors, Roman legionnaires, British Redcoats, and Confederate Soldiers. Hades was sat on a huge throne that was covered in skulls, with four hell hounds either side of him. 

When he stood, Nico noticed Will's small step back, as Hades towered over them at nearly three metres tall. He slowly sunk down to average human height. Will didn't step forward again, though, and Nico could almost sense the anxiety radiating off him. 

In a spur-of-the-moment attempt to calm both of their nerves, he grabbed both of Will's hands, pulling him in for a kiss. The son of Apollo seemed shocked but responded after a few seconds. 

Once they'd pulled apart, both faces were flushed bright red, but when Nico glanced up to gauge his father's reaction, Hades had just looked away. Nico was almost certain there was the tiniest of smiles on his dad's face, but maybe he was just being hopeful. 

"Right, son, anyway..." 

Was it just Nico being stupid, or was Hades, _the Lord of the Underworld_ , actually struggling for words? 

"As I said, Hecate has a job for you. I persuaded her to let you take your - your friend..? - " 

Okay, Hades was definitely uncertain now. 

"Your... boyfriend?" the god finally settled on, looking at his son for confirmation. Nico nodded, staring out the ground - he hadn't dared to tell Hades yet and was terrified of his reaction. To his surprise, the god said nothing else about and even seemed to be smiling, just ever-so-slightly, but Nico was sure it was there. 

"Anyway, he'll be going with you as I'd - um, as your father - I'd prefer it if you weren't, um... if you weren't alone. And... well, he's good for you, Nico. You're happy. And - and I like to see that." 

Nico was stunned and just stared at his father, frozen in shock. Had he heard that correctly? 

"Right, anyway..." Hades seemed even more flustered around the whole father-son relationship than Nico did. "Hecate." 

The goddess appeared in front of them, roughly the same height as Will. She was in a black cloak that seemed to move like the shadows. Her long, dark hair cascaded down her back. Her eyes glimmered like black diamonds in the light of the emerald flames. 

She stepped forward towards the two boys, who just watched her. Nico glanced at Will. He was nervous. Something about this goddess made him feel on edge. 

"Nico di Angelo, son of Hades; and Will Solace, son of Apollo. Correct?" 

The former nodded, unsure whether they needed to kneel or not, so just said, "Yes, ma'am...?" He'd never had to refer to a goddess before, except maybe Artemis, but that was a while ago and they hadn't properly talked. 

"I need the two of you to go to a school in Scotland. One of my daughters works there and, well, I need you to change the course of history. You'll be going back in time to nineteen seventy-seven. I'll cast a few spells and whatnot to give you magical ability and send you to where you need to be, but other than that, you're on your own," said Hecate. 

"What about our powers?" asked Nico, glancing at his father. In a way, he was still trying to gauge his dad's response to his and Will's relationship. 

"Oh, you'll keep those. You'll need them. Minerva will help you get settled. Only she and the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, know your true identities. You'll need your weapons. Your mission is to save James and Lily Potter's lives and kill the man calling himself Lord Voldemort. His real name's Tom Riddle." 

"Tom?" said Hades. He suddenly looked irritated, no, fuming. "Yeah, you kill him, son. Created a load of horcruxes, he did - caused a lot of paperwork down here. Got the perfect place in the Fields of Punishment for him, we have," he grumbled. 

###### 

Nico and Will looked around the room they'd appeared in. They were both silent in awe. Shelves stretched upwards from floor to ceiling, full of hardback, leather-covered book. They all looked old with a thick layer of dust covering the tops of their pages. In front of the two boys was a wooden desk with a grand-looking chair behind it. Lining the walls were tens, maybe a hundred, portraits of other people. Nico couldn't read the golden and silver plaques from where they stood. 

Next to the desk was a golden cage, an ash-coloured dust lined the bottom of it and, stood on a perch, was a beautiful, golden and red bird. 

"Is - is that a phoenix?" Will asked Nico. 

"Looks like it. I didn't even know they existed." 

There was the sound of footsteps coming from the two flights of stairs in front of them. Two people were coming down; one man and one woman. The lady was much younger, with dark hair tied in a bun. She was wearing a long green and black robe-type thing. Nico had never seen clothes like it. 

The elderly man was wearing something very similar, but his were a brighter purple colour. He had a long silvery beard and blue eyes sparkled at the two boys from their position behind half-moon glasses. 

"I see you've met Fawkes," said the man. His voice sounded kind, but there was also a firmness behind it, like he could shout if he wanted to. It reminded Nico, just a little bit, of Chiron.

"You must be Mr di Angelo and Mr Solace," said the lady. She held out her hand for them both to shake. 

After a tentative glance at his boyfriend, Nico took her offer. Will did the same. They both took a small step back as the adults moved behind the desk. The bloke sat down while the woman remained standing. 

"I am Professor Albus Dumbledore," said the man. He had a small smile on his face, which, although probably intended to, didn't look either kind or welcoming. "And this is Professor Minerva McGonagall." 

"Minerva?" said Will. "Isn't that who Hecate mentioned...?" 

"Oh, yes, my mother," said McGonagall. "She said she'd be sending you. She sent you each a wand and school uniform." 

The professor handed over a small bundle to each of them. Both were black with a strange stick thing. Nico took his out, holding it in his right fist. 

"Did mother not give you any knowledge of our world?" asked McGonagall. 

"Don't think so," said Nico. 

"She said she was giving us 'magical ability' but neither of us know anything else," said Will. 

McGonagall just frowned. She looked over at the Dumbledore guy before saying, "What house will they be in, Albus?" 

"Who have you been sent to protect?" asked Dumbledore. He had only a mildly interested look on his face, like they were discussing the weather. 

Nico looked over at Will, who shrugged and nodded at the same time. The son of Hades took a breath then said, "James and Lily Potter. We can't tell you what's going to happen, just that they're to be protected." 

"Lily _Potter_?" said McGonagall. She looked confused. 

Will nodded. 

"We don't have a Lily Potter here, only a Lily Evans." 

Nico and Will's eyes met again. The latter shrugged. 

"Well, they are both in Gryffindor," said Dumbledore, not seeming at all bothered by the different names or McGonagall's confusion. "So, that's where you'll be. I'm sure the boys'll look after you both. I'd advise you not to tell them your true identities, though." 

"Yes, sir," said Will calmly. 

Professor McGonagall beckoned for them to follow her out of the office after thanking Dumbledore. She led them out the door, past all the portraits, their eyes seemed to be following them which unnerved both boys. Nico dared not ask about it - he didn't want to seem too crazy or ignorant. 

"Wait," Will said, frowning when he looked over at his boyfriend. "Neeks, where's your sword?" 

Nico's hands searched over his body, checking where he usually kept it several times. Nothing. 

"Shit. I - I don't know." 

"We can't go without it. You need that. What if a monster comes or something. I'm a crap fighter." 

Nico just sighed and scratched at the back of his neck. "I know... Hecate won't have just taken it. She knows I need that - or dad'll have told her." 

Will ran a hand through his hair. "What if she turned it into something? Like Percy's sword, or Jason's coin?" 

"Maybe... my ring? The one Bianca gave me?" 

Nico was already twiddling the black skull ring on his left hand. He slid it off, tossed it in the air and when he caught it in his right hand it had turned into his familiar Stygian iron sword. 

He loved how it felt in his hand, like he was ready to fight, perfectly prepared. He felt so much more powerful than normal. He knew people were scared of him, but now he felt like they actually should be. Even Will said he was intimidating when he had his sword and looked like that. 

The son of Hades concentrated on changing the sword back and, just like that, it shrank back to the ring. He slid it onto his finger before turning and nodding at Will. They were ready.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Marauders meet Solangelo.

"Lily's never gonna agree to go out with me, is she?" said James as he flopped backwards onto his bed. His voice sounded so dejected, so genuinely sad that Sirius almost didn't laugh. 

It was the third of September and the boys had just finished their first official Saturday at Hogwarts in their last year. It felt so good and relaxing to have a day of doing nothing after all the homework and assignments they'd been set in the first day of lessons. 

They had started their N.E.W.T. subjects yesterday, having only arrived at school the day before, and apparently, according to the teachers, that meant there was some unspoken rule that they had to be worked off their feet and given literal mountains of essays and practice exam questions. 

"Face it, mate, she hates you," said Sirius. "Has done since first-year." 

"I don't know about that," said Remus quietly. It was loud enough that the others heard, though. 

"What?" 

"I reckon you two'll be dating by Christmas." 

"Willing to bet on it?" said Sirius, a mischievous grin on his face. 

Remus rolled his eyes but nodded. "Yeah, all right, then." 

"Ten galleons?" 

The other boy sighed and nodded again. Sirius held out his hand and he shook it. "Yeah, ten galleons." 

That was when there was the knocking at the door - three quick but firm knocks. The door swung open a couple of seconds later and their Transfiguration professor stood in the doorway. 

There were two people standing behind her. Two boys, about the same age as James, Sirius, Remus and Peter. As the professor stepped further in, the boys followed her and the four Gryffindors could get a better look at them; James even sat up from his bed. 

The two boys looked like total opposites of each other - one light, one dark. 

The one on the right had raven-black hair, even darker than Sirius'. He was wearing dark jeans and an aviator jacket over a black shirt with grey and white skulls on it. He was fiddling nervously with a ring on his left hand and wasn't looking directly up at any of them. 

The other guy had blond curls. He looked a lot more confident than the other and smiling warmly. Remus could see something in his blue eyes, though. He wasn't sure exactly what it was, but this boy had obviously seen something. Something bad, probably. It was a pained look. And, although his smile did reach his eyes, it was like it didn't _fully_. 

"Boys," said McGonagall. "These two are transfers and will be staying with you the rest of the year. They're from America and don't know much about our school or the type of magic we teach here, and would probably appreciate your help." 

The black-haired guy looked up. His eyes scanned the room, hesitating for a second on all four boys before darting to the two new beds that had suddenly appeared. He then glanced over at the blond boy. Their eyes met and something seemed to pass between them, like they were communicating with just a single look. 

"Err - professor," said the taller, blond boy. "We share a bed." He sounded so confident when he said that, Sirius was almost taken aback. Him and Remus had never been that open about that kind of stuff, especially not in front of the professors. 

"It helps us sleep," he continued. His eyes seemed to linger, looking meaningfully at McGonagall just a tad longer than was socially acceptable. "You know, after everything." 

The other boy's eyes never left the blond boy's face as he spoke. The two of them were clearly very close. As soon as he'd finished talking, he looked back over at the black-haired boy and grinned. 

McGonagall glanced between the two of them before sighing quietly, taking out her wand and as suddenly as it had appeared, one of the beds vanished. She looked back at them, her eyebrows raised. 

"Anything else, boys?" 

The blond guy seemed to genuinely think about it, glanced at the other then said, "No, don't think so. We'll let you know, though, if we think of anything." 

"Thanks, professor," said the black-haired boy. 

McGonagall just nodded, a tiny smile on her normally stern face, then left the room, closing the door behind her. The boys didn't move, just looking around the room they'd been left in. 

"Right. Well..." said Sirius awkwardly. "Names?" 

"I'm Will Solace, and this is my boyfriend, Nico di Angelo." 

The black-haired boy, Nico, clearly tried to suppress a smile, failing, as he said, "Do you have to use that word?" 

"What would you prefer? Partner? Significant other?" 

Nico's smile spread. "Significant annoyance in your case." 

Will laughed and ruffled Nico's hair, rolling his eyes. Sirius got the impression that this boy was the only person Nico would let do that. Will then put his arm around his boyfriend and the smaller boy blushed ever-so-slightly, his eyes now locked on the ground. 

During this, the other four boys just watched. None of them seemed to know what to say or do. 

"You did say boyfriend, right?" said Peter. 

Nico looked up, a hard glare on his face and all four Marauders took a step back. Even Sirius felt suddenly intimidated. It was like this boy radiated death - it was creepy. "Yeah. He did. Got a problem with that." 

Will touched his shoulder lightly and Nico visibly relaxed, glancing at the other boy. He was still frowning, the death glare on his face hadn't disappeared but to Sirius' admiration, Will didn't even flinch. In fact, he just seemed to smile even more. 

"Okay, well, I'm James," said Sirius' best friend, stepping forward. "James Potter. Nice to meet you both and as Head Boy - " he looked a little smug at that - "it's my pleasure to welcome you to Hogwarts." 

Will and Nico seemed to share a look of recognition with each other when they heard James' name. It was only the smallest glance but it didn't go unnoticed. They both turned towards James, Will smiling broadly. 

"Nice to meet you too," he said in his American accent. 

"I'm Sirius, James' best mate." 

"I'm Remus - "

" - my boyfriend," interrupted Sirius. 

Nico's eyebrows raised at that, but he said nothing. Sirius noticed the black-haired boy wasn't meeting anyone's eyes except his boyfriend's. He was clearly the more introverted of the couple. 

"And I'm Peter." 

"Well, it's nice to meet you all," said Will, still smiling. "Come on, Neeks, let's unpack." 

Nico nodded and Will pulled on his hand, leading him over to the empty bed. The former sat down, leaning against the pillows, watching as Will rummaged through his bag. Sirius didn't know what he was looking for so elected to ignore the pair and continue with the Potions essay in front of him. 

"Can I ask you something?" James asked a minute later, filling the silence that had enveloped the room. 

Nico raised one shoulder in a simple shrug. "Sure." 

"How did you get away with speaking to McGonagall like that?" He was smirking slightly as he said that. Sirius smiled too. He glanced at Remus, who was rolling his eyes. 

Will smirked. "Um..." He glanced at Nico who had a strange glint in his charcoal-coloured eyes. "We're - um - we're kinda related." 

Nico breathed out heavily. When Sirius looked over, he saw he was laughing, trying to cover his smile with a hand. He looked like a completely different person to the intimidating death glare-er from just minutes before. 

"Distantly," he said, through his snickering. 

The second Will glanced at him, he started laughing too. Sirius looked over at his three friends, who seemed just as confused as him. The other two clearly must have been sharing an inside joke; they had that look in their eyes, like James and Sirius so often had. 

"Yeah, very distantly," said Will. 

"So... you're related to McGoogles?" said James after their laughter had calmed a little. 

Nico just smiled again, suppressing his giggles. He kept his eyes on Will as he spoke, like he was checking for confirmation. "Well... technically, her mom's mom's mom's brother's son's son is his dad." 

Remus was trying to work it out, his eyebrows furrowed as he thought through it. "That's complicated," he finally decided. 

"Tell us about it," said Will. 

"Where are you from?" Sirius asked him. 

Their accents were strange, all right. Will's was very obviously American, but Sirius couldn't tell whereabouts exactly. Nico's sounded even odder - both European and American at the same time. 

"Texas," said Will simply. He sat down next to his boyfriend and put his arm subconsciously around his shoulders. Nico leaned his head against him, nuzzling into Will's neck and shoulder. "And Neeks is from Italy." 

"Don't call me that," mumbled the other boy, though he sounded half asleep. 

Straight away, Will turned to his boyfriend, a concerned, loving look on his handsome features. "Are you okay?" 

Nico nodded. 

"Do you need some sleep? You did shadow-travel this morning, you should be tired." 

"What's shadow-travel?" asked Peter. 

"Doesn't matter." Nico shot the boy another glare and Peter backed away, not daring to say another word. Although intimidated, the side of Sirius' mouth curled up. He was starting to like this kid. 

"If you wanna sleep, I don't mind staying with you," said Will gently. 

"Dinner's in half an hour," said James. 

"We ate before we got here." 

Sirius got the impression that Nico didn't like people interrupting when him and Will were talking. The bespectacled boy didn't seem to pick up on Nico's hostility, though. 

Nico sighed, then wrapped his arms around the other boy, his eyes closing. He whispered something, but Sirius couldn't hear what. Will started rubbing up and down on his boyfriend's back; both had their arms wrapped around each other. 

A couple of minutes later, a quiet whispered tune could be heard from the blond-haired boy. He was mumbling something, but it wasn't in English. It didn't even sound like a European language. Sirius tried to listen, but he was too quiet. 

After another minute or so, there was movement coming from the couple. Will was gently laying Nico down on the bed. He tucked the duvet around him before settling himself next to him, his hand still running through the other boy's raven-black hair. He had a loving, protective look on his face. 

"You really love him, don't you?" said Remus kindly. 

Will looked up. "Course I do; he's my boyfriend..." He paused, hesitating, like he wanted to say something but couldn't find the words, or wasn't sure if he should say it. 

He took a deep breath, glancing at the sleeping boy. He looked nervous. He then turned to face James, looking between the four boys. 

"He - er - he's been through a lot," he said, now not meeting their gazes. He was fiddling with the bottom of his shirt. "If..." He breathed out, pausing again, then ran a hand through his hair like James often did. "If you - if y'all hear us, in the night, well... we both get nightmares... like, a lot... so... basically, I'm sorry if either of us wake you up or anything..." 

"Don't worry," said James cheerily, trying to lighten the mood. He glanced at Sirius and Remus, smiling, "We've had our fair share of nightmares." 

Will sighed again. "Just... if you hear screaming or - or crying, don't worry. It's normal and we know how to deal with it." 

"How often?" asked Remus. 

Will understood what he meant. "At least every other night." 

"What happened?" asked Sirius. 

"Padfoot!" snapped Remus. 

"Sirius, that's private," James agreed. "You can't say that." 

"I apologise for my boyfriend," said Remus, stepping forward slightly, "and thanks for letting us know." 

Will just nodded. He laid back a little more, moving Nico slightly, who snuggled up into his chest while he slept. Sirius smiled to himself. They looked so sweet together. They were such opposites, it was like they cancelled each other out, making them seem like the perfect couple. 

Remus walked over to him, putting an arm around his shoulder. "Jealous?" he whispered. Sirius could hear the smile in his voice. 

Sirius just turned around and smiled, bringing the other boy in for a kiss by pulling on his collar. Both boys were smiling and Sirius loved the rosy blush that appeared on the young werewolf's cheeks as they pulled away. 

"James," said Peter, "we're officially surrounded." 

With a small, amused smile on his face, James nodded in agreement. 

"Yep," he said. "Come on, Wormy, we'll wait in the common room. We won't understand their gay talk." 

He nodded politely in Will's direction before him and Peter made their way to the door. 

"I swear," muttered Peter, "if we run into Marlene and Dorcas now..." 

James just laughed, closing the door of the dorm behind them. 

"How long have you guys been together?" asked Will after about half a minute of silence. 

"Err - technically about a year and a half, but we both liked each other for longer before that," said Remus, sitting down on the nearest bed to Will and Nico's. 

Sirius sat down next to him. They held hands. 

"What about you?" 

Will thought for a minute. "Well... let's think... It must be about three years now," he said after another pause. 

"Wow; long time," said Sirius. "You look great together." 

"Thanks." Will grinned, looking down lovingly at his sleeping boyfriend. "You too." 

Sirius got a moment to properly study the two newbies as they sat in a comfortable silence with each other. His eyes scanned over them both, trying to think where they possibly could have come from. Why would they move and start at Hogwarts for one year? What was the point? 

Nico looked pale, but you could still tell he was European. His skin was a pale olive colour; his hair dark, black as night. He had a faint scar on his cheek, barely noticeable. There was a pained expression on his face. 

"Will, is - is he okay?" Sirius asked the blond boy. 

His eyes shot down to look at Nico. He just sighed, sounding tired, and shuffled around his boyfriend to gently stroke his right cheek with his thumb. He was whispering something in the same language Sirius had heard earlier. 

As Will moved, his shirt tightened around his back and arms. Sirius could clearly see the muscles of his arms. He was strong. His sleeves rolled up slightly and a long scar could be seen along the back of his forearm. 

Will kept his murmuring and the tense, pained look on Nico's face faded. Sirius hadn't noticed, but his breathing had sped up and was now slowing again. Will took the other boy's wrist. He frowned as he placed two fingers over the veins in his arm. He moved them after a few seconds, searching for a pulse. 

He nodded to himself, stroked Nico's hair off his forehead, then placed his hand over it to check the temperature. He seemed to wince but said nothing as he rearranged them to be in the same relaxed position as before with Will's arm around the other boy. 

Sirius glanced over at Remus - they'd both been watching this little display. He didn't seem to know what to think or say, either. 

"Er - everything okay?" he eventually settled on. 

Will nodded. "Yes, thanks. Just a small nightmare. He'll be fine." 

"What language were you speaking?" Sirius asked. 

"Hmm? Oh. It was Greek." 

"Pads, we should probably get to dinner," said Remus quietly. Sirius felt his back tingling, his hairs standing on edge, as his breath tickled his ear and neck. 

Sirius just nodded in agreement. He stood up from the bed and Remus followed suit, still holding his hand. He turned to Will. 

"Are you sure you're not coming?" he asked. 

"I can't leave him." 

"All right. Well, lucky for you," said Sirius, "if you do get hungry, yours truly and his mates know exactly where the kitchens are." 

"Thanks, but I'm fine. Y'all go. We'll be fine." 

Sirius nodded. If that's what he wanted, then sure. He wasn't going to argue; he barely knew the guy. It was none of his business. 

The pair walked down the stairs to the common room, their hands still clasped together. Sirius spotted their other two friends almost instantly, sitting with the girls - Lily, Marlene and Dorcas. It turned out James and Sirius had found the other two gays. 

Lily was sitting next to James - a little closer to him than she was probably willing to admit. She also seemed to have a slight flush on her cheeks and was glancing at James a lot more than a friend would. 

Sirius looked at Remus. Both had a knowing look in their eyes. Remus was smirking a little too. 

When they came towards the group, the others stood up, all ready to go down to the Great Hall together. Dorcas and Marlene's hands were interlocked, as were Remus and Sirius's. James and Lily led the group. As they talked and laughed together, the others exchanged knowing looks with each other. 

They all sat at the Gryffindor table, the two couples opposite the other four; Lily sat in between James and Peter, and Mary next to the latter. 

The eight of them had grown much friendlier since the end of their fifth year and during their sixth. Lily had fallen out with Severus Snape - her oldest friend in Slytherin - and since grown much closer with the Gryffindor boys. According to her, they'd all 'matured' and were 'much nicer' than she originally thought. 

"So, what do you guys think of the newbies?" James said after about half an hour. 

"There are new students?" said Lily. 

All the mini conversations amongst the group stopped. The girls all turned to look at the boys as Sirius answered. 

"Yeah; they're a bit odd." 

Marlene frowned. "What do you mean? We haven't seen anyone new. Are they in Gryffindor?" 

"Yeah, in our dorm too," mumbled Remus, with a small sigh. He didn't sound too happy with that. 

"Don't worry, Moons. We'll figure something out," whispered Sirius comfortingly. 

Meanwhile, James was telling the girls about the two new boys, with a few prompts from Peter. The four girls asked questions occasionally. Lily was frowning thoughtfully, like she was confused. 

" - in coming for just one year?" she was saying. "Why?" 

"And you said they were American?" asked Dorcas. "I've always wanted to go to America. My aunt moved there a while ago." 

"Yeah, they're both from America, but one of them's originally Italian," said James. 

"Can he speak Italian then?" asked Mary. 

Sirius nodded. "Yeah, and they both speak Greek as well." 

Lily's eyes widened. "Merlin! They must be smart." 

"Guess we'll find out on Monday." 

"What classes are they taking?" asked Marlene. 

"No idea," said James with a shrug. 

There was a lull in the conversation. James looked along the Gryffindor table. "Pads, where are they?" 

"Blondie - what was his name?" began Sirius. 

"Solace. Will Solace," provided Remus. 

"Yeah, well, he said they weren't hungry. The other one... erm - Nico - fell asleep. Will said he'd stay with him." 

"Hang on! Are they...?" said Marlene, her eyes widening excitedly. 

Sirius grinned and nodded. "Yep." 

"What did I say, James? We're surrounded," said Peter jokingly. 

"Is our whole year gay or something?" said Mary; she was smiling, though. 

"They are a cute couple, though," said Remus. "They look great together." 

James, Peter and Sirius nodded in agreement. The latter put his arm around his boyfriend and pulled him in for a side hug. 

"Neither of them have a patch on you, though, Moon-cakes." 

Remus glared at him, but just a second letter, a smirk spread on his face and he looked at Sirius lovingly, a small blush appearing on his scarred cheeks.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls meet Solangelo and a little bit of angst if you squint.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, with everything JK Rowling has been saying recently, I just want you all to know where I stand on this: 
> 
> JK Rowling is a fucking TERF. End of story. And I don't like her for that. She just needs to shut up and get a grip that everything isn't about her. She's transphobic and needs to learn that equal rights for transgender and gay people doesn't mean less for women and her. 
> 
> Yes, I still love Harry Potter because I don't think we should link the creation to the creator when she's such a bitch. I agree with what Daniel Radcliffe has said - if you believe a certain character is a POC or bisexual, genderfluid or gay or whatever (wolfstar... just saying) then that's okay. For example, I personally ship Remus and Sirius as well as thinking Luna's a lesbian, or maybe asexual and I love the idea of Dean and Seamus too. Just because JK Rowling posted it on Twitter doesn't mean it's canon. Once her books are out there for us to read and interpret, she doesn't own them any more. We bought the books, we paid for them, we own those copies so they're ours to interpret however we like. 
> 
> Surely, we have to agree, it has to be karma that the Harry Potter is one of the gayest fandoms on the internet. Especially when it comes to teenage and young adult fans. We all have to admit, especially those of you reading fanfiction, that this fandom's fucking gay. That has to be some form of karma for JK Rowling, though. And I love that.

Nico was still asleep when the four teenage boys came back; Will's hands were still woven into his charcoal-coloured hair, their legs intertwined as the son of Hades snuggled himself into his boyfriend. Even the other four's rowdy chatter didn't wake him as they bounded into the room. 

Will wasn't surprised by this, though. He'd long since learnt that once the son of Hades was sleeping it was damn near impossible to wake him up. Will didn't mind that. He liked seeing his boyfriend looking so peaceful. Nico was so often plagued by nightmares (as was Will, but his weren't nearly as bad - _he_ hadn't been through Tartarus), even when awake. 

As he slept, Will had kept his arm around his shoulders, letting Nico snuggle into his side, despite him losing the feeling in his hand after a while. Nico's chest rose and fell as he breathed; it was barely noticeable. 

When the other four boys burst into the room, laughing about something, Nico didn't even stir, but when they saw he was still sleeping, they seemed to try and keep the noise to a minimum. They mostly ignored Will as they talked, only shooting him a small, maybe nervous, maybe worried glance at him occasionally. The son of Apollo ignored them. 

"Hey - er - every evening we hang out with friends of ours. You're - erm - you're welcome to join us, if you like," said James. "They'd love to meet you." 

The four boys were all stood by the doorway when Will looked up to answer him. Remus and Sirius were holding hands. James had his right hand on the door handle. The small tubby blond one - what was his name? Peter? - was stood at the back. His eyes seemed to be looking everywhere except towards Will. He was probably just shy. 

"Err - right..." Will didn't know what to say. On the one hand, he hated the idea of leaving his boyfriend. What if he had a nightmare? Or woke up in a panic? On the other hand, for their quest from Hecate, they needed to get to know these guys, maybe even become their friends. That was going to be hard and take effort. These four friends seemed incredibly close. "Yeah, okay then. Let me just leave a note for Nico. D'you have any paper and a pen?" 

"Sure." Remus stepped forward and fished around on his bedside table before passing Will a strange cream-coloured piece of paper and... a feather. 

Will turned the feather around in fingers. It looked like one of those old fashioned quills. Will frowned. 

"Do you not have, like, a normal ballpoint pen or anything? I - I can't really write with this," said Will. He felt a little awkward as James, Sirius and Peter looked just as confused as he was. 

Remus just took the quill from Will with a small smile. "Yeah, no problem. I prefer the muggle method too." 

He went back over to his bedside table then threw Will a plastic ballpoint pen. The son of Apollo leaned on the wall to write out a message. He was going to start in English, but after asking the spelling of three different words, he gave up and wrote it out in Greek: 

Γεια Neeks,  
είμαι στο κοινό δωμάτιο με τα αγόρια και μερικούς από τους φίλους τους. Ελάτε και ελάτε μαζί μας, αν θέλετε. Σ 'αγαπώ,  
Will xxx

_(TRANSLATION: Hey Neeks, I am down in the common room with the boys and some of their friends. Come and join us, if you like. Love you, Will xxx)_

"That's some cool writing, dude," said Sirius as Will put the note under Nico's hand, where he knew he'd see it. 

Will just snorted quietly. "Thanks. Took me a while to learn. Dyslexia, you know," he said with a relaxed smile. 

He followed he other four boys out the dorm, with only one small look back at his still snoring boyfriend. A small smile crept onto his face. He couldn't help being worried about leaving him, but Nico would be okay for an hour or so. Right? 

The common room was packed, with kids on every sofa and armchair. Couples seemed to be making out in every corner of the room - including two of the boys' friends. When James and Sirius led them to a large section of the common room. There were two sofas and three armchairs in a semi-circle by a lit fireplace. In one of the armchairs was two girls, about seventeen years old. 

The blonde one was sat on the other's lap, her arms hooked behind her neck and head. She had curly hair down her back. 

Will felt very awkward. None of the others seemed bothered, though. There were two other girls on one of the sofas. One was ginger, the other was shorter with cropped, mousy brown hair. They were talking to a boy and girl, who could have been a couple, but Will wasn't sure. 

When the boys approached, all, except the two snogging girls, turned to greet them. Sirius and Remus collapsed into an armchair straight away and James joined the two girls on the sofa, smiling confidently at the ginger-haired one. She rolled her eyes, but there was a small smile on her face too. 

Peter sat on the other sofa. The pair who had been talking to the two girls joined him and Will sat tentatively in the last armchair, not quite sure what he should do or say. 

He was saved by the ginger girl. She turned to face him, smiling warmly, "You must be Will, yeah?" 

Will nodded, smiling and trying to hide his nerves. "Yeah, that's me." 

"Well, it's lovely to meet you," she said. "I'm Lily." 

"I'm Mary," said the brown-haired girl. She was quiet, but seemed friendly enough. "Those two -" she motioned to the couple - "are Marlene and Dorcas." 

The two girls broke apart. The blonde one shifted and they both waved over at Will, grinning. Their lips were slightly swollen and red and they still had that kind of wild look in their eyes. Will just smirked knowingly. 

"And I'm Frank. This is my girlfriend, Alice," said the boy next to Peter. 

"I've got a friend back home called Frank," said Will quietly. He was hit suddenly by a wave of homesickness. He missed camp and his brothers and sisters and helping out in the infirmary, although it was stressful. 

"It's nice to meet y'all," he said after none of them said anything else. 

"Whereabouts in America are you from?" Lily asked him. 

"Err - I've lived in New York for a few years now, but I'm from Austin, Texas." 

"Cool." 

"I bet it's weird coming from America to this dump of a country, right?" said Frank jokingly. 

Will laughed politely. In truth it was strange, but he didn't want to accidentally offend anyone so just said, "Yeah, maybe a little bit, but I like it here." 

"You must miss your friends, though?" asked Alice. 

Will looked down at the floor for a split second. When he looked up again, a couple of them were frowning in concern. "Yeah... yeah, I miss them, but I've still got Nico." 

The others took the hint and dropped the subject. He remained silent, just listening as the others talked. They were clearly all good friends. It seemed like every other thing they said was an inside joke or reference to something else. Will didn't mind that - he knew Nico and him were like that too. 

" - so your dad's helping?" Mary was saying to James. 

She had a serious expression on her face. Everyone looked more worried than they did earlier and Will cursed inwardly at himself for not paying attention. 

James nodded in response. "Yeah, he's a wiz at potions, of course he's helping." 

"Yeah, but that's hair potions. And they can't be that great," said Sirius, motioning to James' hair. He was clearly trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work. 

Alice said after a small pause, "My mum thinks the ministry should've cracked down on all this dark stuff sooner." 

"They've been fighting against it for years now. Since we were kids," said Remus. "My dad was on call, fighting for ages before I even met you lot. Trust me, I know." 

Remus looked over at Sirius with a pointed look in his eyes. He was clearly talking about something specific. Sirius knew about it, as did James and Peter by the looks of it. 

Will frowned, looking between them all. He needed to know what had got them all so anxious. "What - what are y'all talkin about?" 

"The war," said James, giving the shortest answer he probably could. 

Will was still confused. "What war?" 

"Lucky ignorant Americans," muttered Dorcas. 

Marlene smiled slightly, rolling her eyes and said, "It's not his fault. The fight's in Europe; you can't blame him for knowing nothing of it." 

"Got yourself an admirer here, Will," said Dorcas, nudging her girlfriend jokingly. 

"Piss off," came her reply. 

"So, you guys are in the middle of a war?" said Will. _Not another one_ , he couldn't help thinking. Him and Nico had just fought two wars against the Titans and Gaea; they didn't need another one. 

Remus nodded grimly. "Yup." 

"Against who?" 

"This dark wizard calling himself Voldemort," said Frank. 

Will froze the second he heard that name. Voldemort. Lord Voldemort. Wasn't that who Hecate had wanted them to kill? He'd have to talk with Nico as soon as he came down. 

The others seemed to have noticed his tension, but they didn't say anything. They were all distracted by Lily resting her head on James' shoulder. Apparently, that was unusual for her. 

"She's hated him since first-year," said Peter quietly, leaning over the arm of the sofa to talk to Will. "They only became friends last year when he stopped asking her out and his ego shrank a little. He has a huge crush on her." 

"Looks like she likes him back," said Will, watching the pair. 

Lily liked him - it was obvious. How could the others be so oblivious? He smiled to himself but neither him nor Peter said anything else about it. 

"What time is it?" Will asked a short while later. 

The group were still talking about the war - they seemed really worried about it. Will had already fought in two wars. He really didn't want another one. But it didn't look like he had much choice anymore. 

Lily checked her watch. "About ten to ten." 

Wow, it was a lot later than he thought. Will was drumming his fingers on the arm of the chair. He hadn't even noticed he was doing it, until he sped up. That seemed to catch the attention of Remus and Sirius, who were sitting in the armchair next to him. 

"Are you okay?" asked Remus. "You seem nervous." 

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Will. 

That was a lie. He couldn't help worrying: about Nico, about the war, about pretty much anything. But especially about Nico. The son of Hades never slept this long unless he'd been shadow-travelling. And Will had banned him from doing that any time that wasn't an emergency. 

He couldn't stop himself turning around to face the door of the dorm every few seconds. Instead of drumming with just his fingers he now used his hands, like he was playing the bongos or something. It must have been annoying the others, but they didn't say anything. 

It was at least another few minutes later when Lily said, "Are you sure you're all right, Will?" 

She looked concerned for him so he tried to slow the nervous tapping. He nodded. "Yeah. Just worried." 

"About...?" prompted Marlene. 

"You know. Stuff. Just, missing my friends." 

Lily nodded knowingly. She was smiling a tad sympathetically. "Do you mind me asking, what about your parents? Did they move here with you?" 

Will's eyes darted to the ground for a second. He could answer honestly, but no one lets two seventeen-year-olds move to a completely different country by themselves. He could lie, but Nico and him hadn't really had a chance to go over their cover story yet and what if they accidentally slipped up and revealed themselves? 

He was saved from answering when James looked up and said, "Hey, Will, Nico's awake." 

Will shot up like a bullet, rushing over to his boyfriend who had just closed the dorm door. He seemed frozen on the stairs, staring at the masses of people in the room. He jumped when Will laid a hand on his shoulder, but relaxed into the touch almost instantly. He took his boyfriend's hand and Will led him over to the others, where he pulled Nico down to sit on his lap. 

Nico practically buried his head in Will's shoulder. His cheeks were flushed slightly as he looked around at everyone and said quietly, "Who are all these people?" 

"You know the four boys in our new dorm," said Will as he started pointing them all out, naming them as he went. "These are Frank and Alice. They're Marlene and Dorcas. The girl there; that's Mary. And that's Lily." 

The ginger-haired girl smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Nico." 

He just smiled back, not meeting her gaze. Will could tell he was nervous so brought him in for a tight hug, kissing his cheek softly. 

"It's okay," he whispered. "You know they're okay with gay people. And they're really nice." 

Nico pulled away and nodded. He was still blushing. Will looked at him more intensely, holding his face gently in his hands, his thumbs on his cheeks. He looked into his eyes, asking a clear question. 

"What was it this time?" he said quietly. 

Nico's eyes darted downwards. "Octavian," he mumbled, almost inaudibly. 

Will sighed and brought his boyfriend in for another hug, running his hand through Nico's soft, raven-black hair. "Oh, it's okay, baby. Me too. I get them too, baby. There was nothing we could've done, though. I promise. It wasn't your fault. It's okay, baby. You're safe. You know that, yeah?" 

Nico nodded again. He smiled slightly before shuffling and turning himself around so both him and Will were facing the others. Thankfully, they'd all been looking away or talking amongst themselves. 

"So," Mary said after a moment, "James said you're from Italy?" 

"Yeah, that's right," said Nico. "Moved to America when I was - err - eight or nine, I think." 

"Are your family still in Italy?" asked Alice. 

"Um... I don't know," said Nico. Will was squeezing his hand - he knew this was a sensitive subject. "Not really been back since." 

"You must've moved with someone, though, right?" said Frank. 

Nico nodded. "Yeah - err - my mom and my sister..." 

"Nice. Are they in Britain with you?" asked Frank. 

The son of Hades shook his head. "No... It's complicated... I - I don't really wanna talk about it." 

"S'alright; we understand," said Sirius. He sent James a strange look and the other boy nodded, almost like they'd had a silent conversation with each other - like Will had seen Annabeth and Chiron doing before. 

"So, you speak Italian?" said Marlene. "I've always wanted to be able to speak another language. I'm too lazy to learn, though." 

"Yeah, we both speak English and Greek," said Will, "and Neeks speaks Italian too." 

"Don't call me that." 

Will just laughed a little. "You know you like it." 

"Shut up, Solace." He turned to the others and said, "So, I'm guessing this is the point where you all ask me to say something in Italian, right?" 

"Only if you're comfortable," said Lily. "We're not going to force you." 

"Yeah, all right then. What do you want me to say?" 

"I don't know. Anything," said Marlene with a shrug. 

Nico thought for a second and Will saw the couldn't make out the look in his dark eyes. After another couple of seconds he said, "Sono solo io o è strano questo posto? Non ho idea di cosa stia succedendo e ... Bianca, vorrei davvero che tu fossi qui. Mi manchi." 

_(TRANSLATION: Is it just me or is this place strange? I have no idea what's going on and ... Bianca, I really wish you were here. I miss you.)_

"Are you okay?" Will whispered. There was a glint of sadness in his boyfriend's eyes. 

Nico just nodded again. 

"You must be clever, then," said Alice. "Speaking all those languages." 

Will couldn't help laughing. "Us? Clever? You've gotta be joking."

"My old teachers would think you're crazy for saying something like that. Can someone with dyslexia be clever?" said Nico a little bitterly. 

"Of course," said Lily. "Albert Einstein had dyslexia." 

"Who?" said James, Sirius, Alice, Frank and Nico at the same time. 

Remus laughed a little, as did Lily and Will. "It'd take far too long to explain," said the former. "Let's just say, he was a scientist, _very_ smart and he had dyslexia." 

"Wait..." said Nico, thinking. "Albert Einstein. German?" 

Lily nodded. 

"He's dead?" 

Nico turned to Will when he said that, who just looked amused as he replied, "He died some time in the 50s - while you were... you know." 

The other boy nodded. Will could see James and Sirius were desperate to ask what they were talking about, but they said nothing. 

The twelve of them stayed up into the night, talking. Nico sat in Will's lap, just listening to the conversation while Will did most of the talking for the two of them. 

After a few hours, at about half past one, Lily had fallen asleep, resting on James's shoulder. Her hair had fallen out of it's loose plait and was hanging around her neck and down her back. 

Marlene was also sleeping, curled up on her girlfriend's lap. Dorcas's eyes kept drifting closed. They were holding each other closely as they slept. 

Both Sirius and Remus looked sleepy too, hugging each other tightly. Remus's hands were running through the other boy's hair, curling it around his fingers again and again. Sirius kept pulling him in every few seconds to kiss. 

By two in the morning, Will was feeling sleepy too and Alice was lying down, her head resting on Frank's thighs as she fought to stay awake. The only person who seemed fully awake was Nico. 

He shuffled himself off Will's lap as he said, "We really should get to bed, Solace. Come on, I'm too small to carry you." 

Remus was getting up too, helping Sirius. He was saying similar things to Nico, dragging his boyfriend off the armchair. Unlike Nico, however, he was able to carry the other boy. He hoisted him onto his back, ready to lug him upstairs. 

The others were starting to stir too. The more awake members of the group helping their friends up. Frank and Alice. Lily and Mary. Marlene and Dorcas. James and Peter. 

"See you all tomorrow, then," said James sleepily. 

"Hmm hmm," hummed Marlene. That was her only response as Dorcas helped her up from the chair. 

"It was lovely to meet you, Will, Nico," said Lily. 

"Yeah, great to meet you," said Mary. 

"Thank you," said Will cheerfully, more awake now. "Mind if we join y'all in lessons, at meals and stuff?" 

"Of course not," said Dorcas. "You're part of the group now." 

"Thanks." 

Marlene and Dorcas left for the dorms, soon followed by Mary and Lily. Frank went too. He slept in the other boy's dorm. Then Alice went up, jogging slightly to catch up with the other girls. 

The other boys made their way upstairs to their dorm and it wasn't long before they were all changed and settled in their respective beds - Nico and Will sharing. Will cuddled up to his boyfriend as the others started drifting to sleep. Nico rubbed at his back and whispered under his breath. 

"I love you," he said softly. "You sleep and I promise I'll wake you up if anything happens. You know I will." 

Will looked up and met Nico's eyes. "I love you too," he murmured. 

Nico smiled and kissed the other boy's forehead as he slowly drifted to sleep. Will smiled too, keeping close to Nico, breathing in his familiar smells. 

He had a peaceful night's sleep that night; whenever he woke up, Nico would be there, whispering comforting words, telling him he loved him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just some Wolfstar bonding, really. We've had Solangelo and now I wanna explore Remus and Sirius' relationship too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started writing this ages ago... then I had a breakdown and questioned the bane of existence for a while.. so, yeah, enjoy.

_Remus felt a tsunami of agony rushing through his body and screamed a noiseless scream. His whole body felt on fire as he writhed in pain. Something was trapping him, curling around his struggling limbs and stopping any movement._

_Fur sprouted, prickling at his skin like needles. His whole body felt on fire as his bones popped and stretched to fit his new form. The binds around his wrists and ankles tightened, burning into his skin._

_Everything hurt. Everything was burning._

When his eyes flew open, Remus could feel his heart pounding, beating against his ribs like it was threatening to explode. His bed sheets were damp with sweat. His breathing had been reduced to slow, shaky breaths in and out, paining his lungs with every inhale. Muscles tense and senses on full alert, he got out of bed, rearranging his pyjamas that clung to his exhausted body.

No one else in the dorm seemed awake. The two newbies, Nico and Will, were intertwined, Nico's head resting on the other boy's chest, their arms wrapped around each other like they were never letting go. They seemed so perfect together, almost working as one. Their limbs slotted together as they slept. It looked like they were even breathing in sync. 

Sirius, James and Peter seemed asleep too, their breathing slow and methodical. After calming his tense and panicked self, Remus made his bed slightly, untangling the mess he'd made of the sheets. 

There was no way he'd be able to go back to sleep now. He hadn't had a nightmare like that in ages and, although he didn't want to admit it, it had jarred him. 

Remus's hands were still trembling as he opened the door to the dorm, tiptoeing out to the silent common room. All the fires were out, the vague smell of food and chocolate still evident in the air. This had become the scent of home for Remus. He couldn't help but feel safe around the other Gryffindors and warmness of the common room. 

Remus sat on the nearest windowsill, his legs up to his chest, staring out at the school grounds. The silvery light of the almost-full moon was glinting on the water of the Black Lake. It seemed to be teasing him. He glared at it, resisting the childish urge to growl too.

He was so entranced by the moonlight and eerie blissfulness of the nature outside, he barely noticed the sound coming from behind him. A couple of seconds later, someone was sitting opposite him on the windowsill, their feet slotting between his and their head resting against the glass of the window.

"Are you okay, Moony?" said Sirius quietly after a minute. Remus knew Sirius knew he wasn't okay, but he appreciated the question all the same. At least it was an attempt at a conversation starter. 

His boyfriend's hair was almost down to his shoulders now, falling in gentle waves, framing his face. His silvery grey eyes shone in the light of the moon. Merlin, he looked gorgeous right now. 

"You know, Rem, a sofa would be much comfier. This windowsill's digging into my butt."

Remus cracked a small smile at that. Somehow, Sirius was always able to cheer him up, no matter what. He admired him for that.

"Come on, Moony, let's at least get comfy somewhere if you're gonna insist on staying here." He said jokingly, but Remus could easily hear the concern in his voice. 

Remus still didn't say anything, though. His eyes were locked on the moon, which, in just three days, would be full. He heard Sirius's sigh once the other boy noticed what he was looking at.

"Oh, Rem." He stood up and held out an arm to help Remus over to the nearest sofa, where they settled, curling up with each other. Sirius ran his hand up and down his boyfriend's back, holding him close to his chest. "We've done this before, Moons. Everything'll be okay."

"What about Nico and Will? What happens when they find out?" said Remus. His voice was shaking slightly, but his breathing was slowing.

"It'll be all right, Moony. Nothing happened when we found out, remember."

"But they're not you. I've not had to hide it for years... what if one of us slips up? What if they're cleverer than you and work it out quicker? What if - "

"Remus. Remus! Breathe. If they find out, James and me will sort it out."

"James and I," corrected Remus quietly. He felt a small jolt in his heart when Sirius laughed quietly and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah... anyway, if they find out, we'll deal with it. You don't need to panic. You should know by now, we won't let anything happen to you, Moony."

"You - you can't know that, Sirius..."

Sirius sighed quietly and Remus instantly worried he was getting frustrated with him and his stupidly endless panicking.

"Listen, Moons. They seem like nice guys - and I'm not just saying that 'cause they're gay - but... well, that is a factor."

To his credit, Remus laughed a little at that, resting his head on Sirius's shoulder. The other boy's arms wrapped around his back, bringing him in closer, his cheek nuzzling in Remus's hair.

"Will seems like a great guy. Yeah, his accent's a bit annoying, but that ain't his fault, and, okay, Nico's bloody intimidating, I'll give you that, even if he is tiny, but Will doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who'd date a dickhead."

Remus let out a small laugh again, more out of nervousness than anything else. Forget intimidating, Nico was full-on scary; Remus hoped he'd never get on his bad side. That guy, honest to Merlin, looked like he wouldn't hesitate to kill someone, whether they deserved it or not.

"Are you all right now?" asked Sirius gently.

Remus smiled slightly. "I will be in a second..." He leaned forward and kissed Sirius, their breaths mingling as he responded just as eagerly. Remus pulled away first, much to Sirius's clear annoyance. "I'm okay now," he whispered.

"Good. Now, please just kiss me again."

"Happily."

They both leaned forward, Remus almost instantly nibbling on Sirius's bottom lip. He let out a satisfied moan as Remus's tongue followed it's usual patterns and route around the inside of Sirius's mouth. His hands went upwards to tug on his boyfriend's black curls.

Sirius's hands went in the opposite direction, itching closer and closer to Remus's hips, pulling him closer until he was sitting on his lap. A tingle shot up his spine as Sirius pulled away and started kissing along the scars on his jawline and neck, his tongue tickling at them, almost like a puppy. Remus couldn't hold back the little moan that escaped his lips.

"Merlin, I love you, Pads."

"I love you too," whispered Sirius before going back to his desperate kissing, his soft lips brushing against the harsh skin of the scars Remus hated so much. "God, you're gorgeous."

"Says you," muttered Remus. His hands were still buried in Sirius's hair, keeping him close.

Sirius came away for breath and his and Remus's lips collided a few seconds later. Their hands seemed to be pulling at each other, exploring every part of their bodies. Remus's arm looped around Sirius's neck, keeping him right there in front of him.

Both had their eyes closed, but Remus couldn't help peeking every few seconds, staring in awe at the piece of art in front of him. He often wondered how someone as incredibly beautiful as The Sirius Black could like someone like him.

Sirius pulled away, needing to breathe again, a minute later and Remus rested his head back on his shoulder. He cuddled into him, breathing in his scent. His eyes were drifting closed slightly. He couldn't really describe it; he just felt totally relaxed in Sirius's arms. He felt safe.

"Are you tired, Moony?" whispered Sirius, amusement lacing his voice.

Remus shook his head and smiled.

"Do you want to go back to bed?"

He shook his head again. "Don't think I could get back to sleep now."

"Everything will be okay, Moons," said Sirius, looking him directly in the eyes. "I know you don't believe me, but trust me when I say I won't let anything happen to you."

When the two finally went back to the dorm, the sun was just starting to rise. Peter and James still seemed to be asleep, as did Nico and Will. The former was still curled up around his boyfriend, looking a little like a koala hugging a tree. His head was resting on Will's chest, rising and falling as the blond breathed. Let's just say, he looked a lot less frightening when asleep. 

Sirius and Remus got into the latter's bed, cuddling up to each other again. Sirius's hand ran up and down Remus's back again as he snuggled his head into his neck. He smelled like smoke. The only word Remus could think of to describe it was grey. And beautiful. It smelled of home, and comfort. 

"I love you, Moony."

Remus smiled. "I love you too."


	5. Chapter 5

"Wake up, di Angelo!" said Will with a tired voice that Sunday morning. His boyfriend was still curled around him, head on Will's chest. "My back's gone stiff, and I've probably cricked my neck, thanks to you." 

Nico just groaned, shuffling a little before burrowing into Will, his eyes closing again. Will couldn't help but smile; he was so adorable this early in the morning. 

The other four boys in the dorm were already up and getting dressed. It was about half past nine - late for Will, but still early for Nico. They were mostly ignoring the new couple, opting for chatting amongst themselves. 

Remus had been dressed when Will woke up, so had Sirius. And James and Peter were both in the midst of waking, washing and changing. The latter was frowning down as he knotted his tie, shuffling it a little to fit properly around his shirt collar. 

"C'mon, Neeks. We need to eat, you know." 

"Too tired for food," came the grumbled reply. 

Will just laughed a little before trying to move Nico off him. It was lucky the other boy was light as a feather, despite having gained weight and even more muscle since the last war. 

Nico made several disparaging grunts as he forced himself to get out of the bed, stumbling slightly as his eyes drifted closed from the exhaustion. 

Will's departure was much easier. He was a lot more of a natural morning person, though, being the son of Apollo, and all. He was quick in the shower and was changed into a T-shirt and jeans within a few minutes after finishing in the bathroom. 

The son of Hades, however, was a completely different story. As soon as Will had left, he'd apparently flopped back onto the bed, covering his face and eyes from the light streaming through the windows. 

Will rolled his eyes and ruffled Nico's hair as he sat on the bed. "Get up, Nico. You need to have breakfast. I'm not letting you skip _another_ meal." 

Nico just grunted and rolled over, looking up at his boyfriend through tired, but incredibly beautiful dark brown eyes. 

"Come on, Neeks. Doctors orders." 

"You can't just use that whenever you want me to do something, Solace," said Nico quietly. 

Will just raised his eyebrows, smirking. "Really? Then why does it always work?" 

"Shut up, Solace." 

Nico sat up, though, and Will passed him his usual attire: black jeans and a black T-shirt, probably with skulls or something on them. Nico slipped into a pair of Will's shorts before taking the clothes through the bathroom. 

When he came back out, Will was laid on the bed, leaning against the pillows, his ankles crossed. Remus and Sirius were sat on the latter's bed, talking in whispers while Peter was sitting cross-legged on the floor, flicking through a textbook with parchment spread out in front of him. James was... actually, Will had no idea what James was doing. He was sat up on his bed, leaning back and seemed to be staring into space. 

Nico joined Will on the bed straight away, looping an arm around his neck and pulling him in for a kiss. He was still clearly exhausted, his eyes still closed as their lips parted and Nico shuffled to rest his head on Will's shoulder. 

After several seconds of silence, his eyes darted up to meet Will's. He whispered, "Did you get any information yesterday?" 

Will knew what he meant so nodded, eyes flicking around the room to check the others were sufficiently distracted before he replied. "Yeah... they're at war with Lord Voldemort right now. Have been for years." 

"You're joking," sighed Nico. He cursed in Italian under his breath. "Another fucking war. For the gods' sake!" 

"At least this one isn't immortal beings possessing people and trying to destroy the world, right?" said Will in a lame attempt to lighten the mood. 

In his defence, Nico gave him a pity smile before frowning. "Yeah, but the horcruxes. I don't even know what they are. Voldemort could be immortal for all I fucking know." 

"Gods... this is gonna be fun..." Will sighed. "We'll ask one of the teachers what a horcrux is once we figure out everything else about this damn school. Do you reckon your dad would smite me if I cursed at him right now?" 

Nico laughed lightly. "Hmm... I don't know. He's not meant to acknowledge we're here... maybe his past self - wait! Hang on... if we've gone back in time, does that mean there's a past version of me and Bianca still in the Lotus Hotel? Oh my gods..." 

"Yeah, maybe. But anyway, back onto the topic: what are we going to do?" 

Nico sighed again, frowning and looking away in thought for a second. "I don't know. Cazzo! I have no fucking clue, okay. Why does dad trust me with all this shit? I don't know what I'm doing." 

Will made sure none of the others were listening in after Nico's little outburst before speaking. "Neeks, you've saved the world multiple times. In my eyes, you're more of a hero than any of the Seven. Without you, Reyna would've never been able to bring the statue to camp. There'd have been a war against the Romans as well as Gaea. You're a hero, Neeks, and for you, the quest comes first over everything. That's why your dad trusts you." 

"You big sap," said Nico, but he was smiling. 

Will just laughed too. "You love me." 

"Damn right I do." Nico looked mock annoyed at that and rolled his eyes slightly before smirking. 

"So, what's the plan, Death Boy?" 

Nico sighed again. "We'll continue with the research. We need to know what a horcrux is, find out more about this Tom guy - I refuse to use his stupid nickname." 

Will smiled at that. 

"Then, we fight. We kill him, keep as many people alive as we can, then go home." 

"You make that sound so simple." 

"It ain't gonna be simple. Do you think you can cope with another war?" he asked Will, suddenly looking worried. It was sweet. "There'll be a lot of injuries and... death..." 

Will smiled again. "I'll be fine, thank you. You should worry more about yourself. You nearly faded out of existence last time." 

"That was one time," said Nico, rolling his eyes. After another sigh, he spoke again. "So, this dick's gonna have followers. And, knowing my luck, they ain't gonna be as easy to kill as monsters." 

"My Celestial Bronze arrows won't work..." 

"What about my sword? Stygian Iron? It can kill anything." 

Will nodded. "Just don't expect me to be very helpful when the time comes. You know I'm shit at fighting." 

"You're not that bad. Plus, healers are more important. We need you. Without you, everyone would be dead, you know that." 

Will smiled. "Ambrosia isn't gonna work on these guys, though." 

"Cazzo! I didn't think about that." 

"My magic will though. And I can still sing hymns and pray to Apollo... I think..." 

Nico bit a little nervously at his lip, frowning. "I don't know. I hope so..." The other four boys were staring to stand up, clearly getting ready for breakfast. "We - we should go with them. We've gotta be friends, remember." 

"Yes, boss." Will was grinning as they stood up from the bed. 

Tension hung in the air, anxiety practically radiating off both demigods. Nico seemed especially nervous, his ADHD through the roof as he twisted his skull ring, still frowning like he was ready to fight. 

"Perché è tutto così fottutamente complicato? Sono seriamente destinato a non avere mai una vita normale? I destini mi odiano così tanto?" he muttered. Will had no idea what it meant, but he was clearly frustrated. 

_(TRANSLATION: Why is everything so fucking complicated? Am I seriously destined to never have a normal life? Do the Fates hate me that much?)_

"Gods, you look hot when you speak Italian," commented Will, a small smile on his face. He was lightening the mood again, much more successfully this time, making sure the other four didn't become suspicious at their apparent lack of energy or enthusiasm. 

Nico blushed but flipped him off, obviously trying to keep up his intimidating, death-like facade. "Shut up, Solace." 

"Make me." 

"Oh, you little asshole!"

Will just raised an eyebrow, smirking. 

"Stop. Don't! I know what you're thinking!" 

"Really? And what would that be?" asked Will, feigning innocence. 

Nico just flipped him off again, casting his usual death glare. And as usual, Will didn't even flinch. If anything, his smile grew wider.

"People are scared of me, Solace. And for good fucking reason." 

"And - err - what would that reason be, di Angelo?" Will was _still_ smiling. It would have been infuriating if Nico hadn't found it so bloody gorgeous. His boyfriend had told him many a time how much he liked his smile, mainly when he was half-asleep or drunk, but it still counted. Will knew exactly what it was doing to Nico. 

The son of Hades glanced at the other four boys in the room. He was defeated. Will knew that. He couldn't say anything. For gods' sake. 

He settled for a: "You know who my father is. You know what I could do." 

"And, again, what would that be?" 

Nico let out a frustrated sound. "Shut up!" 

"Make me." 

"For fuck's sake, Will." 

Will just laughed. 

Nico glared at him again, but Will could see the amusement in his eyes. He was fighting back a smile too. 

"I'll wait in the common room. I can't be around you any longer when you're being such a dick." 

Will laughed again. 

"I hate you, Solace." 

"Love you too!" Will called after his boyfriend as he left the dorm. He was still laughing as he turned away from the door to see the other four watching, eyebrows raised. "Don't worry, everything's cool." 

"Are - are you sure? He seemed pretty serious," said Peter a little timidly. 

"Yeah, I'm sure. Trust me, all's good." 

And, sure enough, when the five boys went downstairs to the common room, Nico was waiting, sitting on a sofa with Lily, Mary, Alice and Frank. He stood up as soon as he saw them, instantly moving towards Will and taking his hand. Will ruffled his hair and Nico just shot him a half-hearted glare. 

"Right, then, breakfast!" said James, linking an arm with Lily. She pushed him away, but didn't lose the smile on her face. She definitely liked him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably gonna start going a bit faster after this, cos so far it's been five chapters and only two or three days. But if it keeps going at that pace, it'll be hundreds of chapters... 
> 
> Also, just want to say, every kudos, every bookmark, every comment means the world to me so thank you ❤


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First full moon of seventh year.

It turned out that the two new newbies were not as smart as James and the others had thought. During Transfiguration, neither Will or Nico had understood a word. After _a lot_ of practice the former had finally managed to transfigure a match into a needle, something that everyone could do in first year. 

McGonagall had obviously called them back after class. It was crazy! What on Earth had they been taught in America? It was also kind of weird though. McGonagall hadn't even seemed angry, just a little... what was the word?... exasperated? Or a bit irritated maybe. 

Him and the other Marauders were currently waiting outside their Transfiguration classroom while Nico and Will talked to McGonagall about something. They'd been hoping to try and eavesdrop, but it seemed their professor had put a silencing charm up or something.

Sirius was stood right by the door, his ear up to the wood, despite their being no sound coming from the room. Peter and Remus were sitting on the nearest stone windowsill while James paced up and down, bored. 

They had a lot to think about. Sirius had been right: the two new boys _were_ weird. There was just something about them that didn't seem to make sense. And with the whole war against Voldemort and people going missing left, right and centre, they really didn't need more trouble. 

James was drawn away from his train of thought by Sirius. He'd finally moved away from the door, giving up on their original plan. Remus had been staring out the window, ignoring everything around him, until Sirius had spoken. 

"You all right, Moony?" he'd asked, drawing all the attention to the boy in question. 

"Yeah... I'm fine." 

It was obvious what Remus was stressing about. Sirius hadn't spoken to James about it, but he knew Remus had started having nightmares again and was freaked out about the two new boys finding out about his 'furry little problem'. 

James and Sirius went to join the other two on the windowsill, slotting themselves either side of their werewolf friend. Sirius put his arm around Remus's shoulders, letting him rest his head on his shoulder. 

"Moony, you know by now that we know when you're lying," he said softly. "You can talk to us. You should know that by now." 

"I know..." started Remus. "I just..." 

"Rem, everything will be okay. We'll be careful. We're not gonna slip up or anything," said James. "You can trust us." 

"I know that." 

"Okay, so you need to trust that we won't let anything happen to you, Moons."

"I do..." 

"Then why the hesitance?" asked Sirius. 

"You know why." 

Nobody said anything. James couldn't help feeling bad for his friend, even though he knew Remus wouldn't want his pity. The guy had suffered his whole life, since he was four, for something he couldn't help. And the worst part was that he believed he deserved it! No one deserved what Remus had been through. 

None of the other Marauders had even fully understood his condition until they'd become Animagi two years ago. James still remembered their first ever full moon together. The screaming. The cracking of his best friend's bones as they shifted and popped out of place. It had almost been unbearable, just to watch, let alone go through. 

James remembered the fear in Remus's eyes as they'd told him they knew. He'd had a panic attack on the spot, insisting he'd leave if they wanted and begging them not to tell anyone else. He'd hated knowing that him, and Sirius, and Peter were the cause of that pain, that pure terror. 

Remus hadn't been the same for weeks, months afterwards. It was like he was constantly seeking reassurance, checking that they didn't hate him or fear him or were disgusted by him. It had killed James every time Remus had looked at him with that hesitance and sudden anxiety in his amber-brown eyes. It had taken him months to get back to his usual self and even then whenever he joked around there'd been that obvious sense of uncertainty. 

"Everything will be okay, Moony," said James quietly. "We won't let anything happen to you, no matter what, and we're always here for you." 

Sirius and Peter were nodding in agreement, the former pulling his boyfriend closer and kissing the top of his head gently. 

That was when the classroom door opened, revealing Nico and Will. They seemed to have been holding hands all day - at breakfast, on the way between lessons, during class. Were they ever apart? Professor McGonagall was stood behind them, smiling - had she ever smiled like that before? - and Nico and Will were laughing slightly. 

When they spotted the four boys, their smiles faded. All three of them seemed to tense as if their was a secret between them that no one else could know. Maybe there was...? It would make sense... the two newbies seemed able to talk to McGonagall a lot easier than anyone else, but was that just because they were related? They must have a complicated family if the two of them were that comfortable around someone so distantly related to them. 

"Are you four here for a reason?" asked Nico, looking at them oddly. 

"We were waiting for you, actually," said Sirius, standing up from the windowsill. The others followed suit, Remus still staying close by his boyfriend. "Unless you'd rather we just let you get lost." 

"No," said Will, shooting a pointed look at Nico. "It's fine. Thank you." 

"You're welcome. You guys ready for lunch?" 

Will nodded, glancing back at McGonagall for a second. They seemed almost able to communicate without talking. 

"Okay, well, if you need me again, boys, you know where to find me," she said before taking off briskly down the corridor. 

"What was that about?" asked Peter. 

"Mind your own business," said Nico. 

"Don't talk to Peter like that," said James. How _dare_ this new kid talk to his friend like that? Who did he think he was? 

Will just sighed, holding up his free hand in a placating gesture. "He didn't mean it rudely, honest." He turned to his boyfriend. "Neeks, how many times do I have to say it? We really need to work on your people skills." 

James guessed that if any other person had spoken like that to this di Angelo kid, they'd be dead, or at least badly injured within seconds. In response, Nico just rolled his eyes. That was all. 

That evening, the four Marauders were in their dorm getting ready for the full moon. Nico and Will had said they needed to talk to Lily about something so were out in the common room with the girls and Frank. They'd slotted into the friendship group relatively well within the few days they'd been there. Nico still seemed very distant and tended to only talk to Will, but they got along well with the girls. 

"Have you got everything, Moons?" asked Sirius. 

Remus nodded. He'd been doing this for years, a decade longer than they had, but James knew Sirius was just trying to lighten the mood. Even after they'd made the full moons so enjoyable (once he was the wolf), it was still incredible terrifying and stressful for their friend. For them, it was just turning into an animal and running around the forest for a few hours. For Remus, it could be a matter of life and death, literally. James couldn't help remembering back in fifth year, the full moon after The Incident, how close to death Remus had looked... they'd all been so scared for their friend. 

"Okay, let's go!" said James. "What're we doing this month? The forest? Hogsmeade?" 

"Erm... let's do the forest. There could be people around in Hogsmeade on a night like this. We can't risk it." 

"You know we can control you, Moony," said Sirius. 

"Yeah, but... no... if someone sees... we can't risk it." 

"Okay." 

Remus always had the last say. That was the main rule when it came to their full moon adventures. 

When they reached the Shrieking Shack - James, Sirius and Peter having gone under the Invisibility Cloak - they instantly made sure Remus was comfortable. He was set up on the sofa, blankets wrapped around him. He was already trembling and every so often let out a tiny pathetic whimper of pain.

Sirius stuck right by his side, squeezing his hand firmly. This happened every month. They had to watch helplessly as their friend slowly disappeared right in front of their eyes. 

"Change," Remus managed to get out before crying out in pain, his back arching and fists clenching. 

James watched as Sirius pulled his boyfriend in for one final kiss, coming away with a slightly swollen, bleeding lip from Remus's developing fangs. He shot a thumbs up over at Peter, who transformed first, followed by James then Sirius. Soon, they were a stag, dog and rat watching as the last traces of their friend disappeared, leaving behind a wolf, curled up on the sofa like a kicked puppy. 

Luckily, Moony had grown used to his friends' animagi forms, so as soon as he spotted them, bounded over. If wolves could smile, that's what he would be doing. Moony and Padfoot started play-fighting instantly, tumbling and rolling on the floor. 

Before they'd all transformed, James had opened the trapdoor, making sure it was open enough so they could get out once in their animal forms. Wormtail always went first, after a nod from James, to tap the knot in the trunk and stop the Wheeping Willow. 

It was Padfoot's job to lead Moony out of the Shack, followed by James, then the four of them ran around the Hogwarts grounds and into the forest. As students, they had never ventured too far, knowing the dangers that lurked in the heart of the trees, but as animals, James felt on top of the world and he knew the others felt the same. They could do anything. They were free. Nobody knew it was them and they could go wherever they wanted... well, within reason. Obviously, they couldn't go too near other people for Moony's sake, but still... 

James led them further into the forest, weaving between the trees as the shadows danced around them. Wormtail was nestled in his antlers as they ran, Moony and Padfoot still play-fighting as they followed. Even in their animal forms they looked great together.

###### 

"Where're the others?" said Nico as him and Will went into the dorm. 

Lily, Marlene and Dorcas were with them as the former was working on a Potions project with James and needed his notes. The two boys had got closer to the girls over the past couple of days and Will could tell Nico was starting to feel a little more comfortable around them. He'd even spoken to them without them talking first. 

"Oh don't worry about it," said Lily. "Those boys are always off somewhere doing stuff." 

"Yeah, they've probably just gone to the kitchens or something," said Dorcas. 

"When will they be back? Isn't it past curfew?" asked Will. 

Lily just shook her head, her expression a mix between amused and a casual disregard for what was happening. "Well... there's a forty percent chance they'll be back before three A.M., a thirty-five percent chance they'll be back before lessons tomorrow, a twenty percent chance they will turn up sometime tomorrow and a five percent chance you won't see them again... for a while." 

Will decided it was best to just not say anything. 

Lily seemed to know her way around the dorm like the back of her hand. She went straight to the desk to get James's notes while Marlene and Dorcas made out on Peter's bed. It basically seemed like routine for them, kissing whenever possible. Remus and Sirius tended to be more secretive about it. 

"Don't mind them," said Lily. "Honestly, you should've seen them a couple of years back. Merlin, the pining!" 

"What, like you and James?" 

"Shut up, McKinnon!" 

Lily just laughed, tucking a strand of ginger hair behind her ear before rummaging through the stacks of books and parchment on the desk. 

"You do seem to like him," said Will. "Quite a lot." 

She laughed again, turning around, her emerald eyes glimmering with humour. The light in the room made her freckles stand out even more and her smile sparkle. 

"Oh, no, no, no. You've got it wrong. James is - he's - no, just no. He's - ugh - he's annoying, no, infuriating - "

" -ly handsome, in your opinion!" shouted out Dorcas from behind the curtains of Peter's bed. 

"Shut up!" replied Lily. She was still smiling though. "I don't like James." 

Will just raised his eyebrows sceptically, but said nothing. He wasn't going to pry too far when they barely knew each other. 

"Aha! Fucking finally!" cried Lily after another minute or so. She was brandishing a sheet of parchment with a lot of scribbling on it. It looked like it was meant to be some sort of results table though. "McKinnon, Meadowes, we're off!" 

The girls emerged, grinning and holding hands. Both had slightly swollen, red lips. It was barely noticeable, though - they hadn't been going at it _that_ long. Marlene had a hickey between her collarbone and neck. When she noticed Will looking, she smirked and shuffled her blouse, poorly trying to cover it. 

"Right, well, see you later boys," said Lily, hugging Will goodbye before opening her arms hesitantly to Nico. He shook his head a little discreetly and she just smiled again. 

"And, I'd advise you both to utilise your time alone in the dorm," said Marlene as they left, winking at the couple. 

"Use it well, my dear gays," added Dorcas. 

Within a second, Will and Nico were alone. Automatically, Nico seemed to move closer to his boyfriend, squeezing his hand. 

"So... shall we take the girls' advice?" asked Will, grinning and leaning down to peck Nico on the lips. 

The son of Hades let out a frustrated whine and pouted. "As much as I'd love to, we really ought to talk about everything. We are at this school for a reason." 

Will sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right. Or... maybe... if, you know, there's a sixty percent chance we won't be seeing them until tomorrow... the serious talk can wait," he said, smiling teasingly. 

Nico just grinned and rolled his eyes. 

It's safe to say, there was very little talking that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not overly happy with this chapter, to be honest, but I dunno when I'll next be able to update, so.. I'll edit it later on; let me know if you see any big mistakes or plot holes etc or anything.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of Jily for y'all before things start getting more serious..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, sorry, but rant time. I’m sure you’ve all seen the latest transphobia from She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (JK Rowling) and, as a writer for this fandom, I feel I ought to say something about it. 
> 
> If anyone doesn't know what she's done: she's written a new book about a cis, straight, white man that dresses up as a woman to invade women's spaces and murder them. And it's under the pen name Robert Galbraith, which, by the way, is also the name of an old scientist that experimented with conversion therapy back in the 50s... so that's great... 
> 
> Here is where I stand: 
> 
> Trans women will ALWAYS be women. End of. They will always be valid and accepted and what JK Rowling has said is extremely damaging to such a community as this. I’d like you all to know that any trans woman, trans man or non-binary person is valid and loved on my account and always will be. You are accepted and loved, and should never be afraid to be yourself because of this. Trans women aren't "men in dresses", they are beautiful, amazing, strong and powerful women who deserve love and acceptance like every other human being out there. 
> 
> The Harry Potter fandom is one of the queerest on this website, well, we’re _all_ pretty gay, but still. And, as I’ve said before, we need to remember that this universe no longer belongs to the author. We took over all those years ago and we need to continue with that. The characters she created would never do this and I firmly believe that if you headcanon a character to be gay, then that character is gay. I personally believe Hermione is black and Cedric could definitely be transmasc and I obviously ship wolfstar. I’m non-binary and bi myself so I understand how harmful everything she’s said is to the community. 
> 
> I do also believe that if you wish to completely boycott the Harry Potter series, then that is understandable. However, I think it's - not a waste of time - but we need to realise that no matter what we do, JK Rowling will always unfortunately receive money because if this franchise. There's no way we'll be able to reclaim it entirely and have her gain absolutely nothing. It’s just not possible. 
> 
> That being said, I do believe it's possible to at least mostly separate the creator from the creation. Just because Rowling created them, it doesn't mean that Luna isn't the most accepting human ever, or that Remus wouldn’t be incredibly kind to pretty much anyone, and we all know Sirius is not straight. McGonagall's a raging lesbian so she has no reason to be any form of prejudice. And Ravenclaws are known for being accepting. Her universe teaches us to fight against the very hatred she's spewing so she really shouldn't be surprised at the backlash she's now receiving. 
> 
> And if you disagree with anything I've said, I understand. But for some people this universe is their home, their family, their comfort characters (like Remus and Sirius for me), they have nothing else that makes them happy. We need to respect that. This universe no longer belongs to JK Rowling - she doesn't deserve that. Hatred gets you nowhere - the Death Eaters taught us that, Voldemort taught us that. JK Rowling's becoming the very villain she warned us against. 
> 
> Remember, Luna Lovegood would never. The Marauders would never, not even young!Peter. The Golden Trio would never. McGonagall would never. I doubt even Snape would. This universe, these characters are ours if we want them, and we do. This is our story now and as I've said, we can make it as diverse and accepting and as beautiful as we want. 
> 
> So, to any trans people, enbies, POCs, muslims, lesbians, any queers, and any minority or religion or race, you are loved and accepted and always should be. You should never, NEVER, have to feel unsafe or hated because of some TERF. She's just jealous that she's slowly becoming irrelevant. We need to stay together as a fandom. A family. Hogwarts is our home.

"I covered for you last night," said Lily. Her and James had just finished the second prefects briefing of the year and it was just the two of them left in the lounge. 

"How curious are they? Rem's been freaking out about it since they arrived," said James, brow furrowed. It was sweet how worried he looked about his friend. He couldn't even bring himself to be excited that he was talking to Lily Evans, the girl he'd been crushing on since first-year. Lily admired that. 

She sighed slightly. "I don't really know. I think if you all vanish to the kitchens as often as you normally do, and if Remus and Sirius keep sneaking off, it'll look less suspicious when you all disappear every month." 

James nodded. "I'm just worried, you know. All this stress can't be good for him, especially not with our N.E.W.T.s this year." 

"I know what you mean... but he has Sirius now. And he knows we're all here for him. Nico and Will seem like good lads. I know we've not known them for long, but they seem trustworthy enough." 

"Yeah, but with something like this, we can't risk it," said James, biting at his bottom lip. 

There was a silence. "You're kinda cute when you're worried," mumbled Lily, looking down at the ground as she felt the blush spreading on her cheeks. 

"What did you say?" asked James, looking right into her emerald-green eyes. There was a glimmer of hope in his hazel irises, his mouth open slightly. 

Lily's blush just deepened, spreading down her neck slightly. Her face was on fire. "I - erm - I just said you're sort of cute when you're - erm - when you're worried like that." 

James's face split into a bashful grin. Lily could physically see him stopping his hand from ruffling his hair and giving it that windswept look that she hated to admit she actually liked. 

"You - you think I'm cute?" 

Lily couldn't meet his gaze. "No, no, no - I did not say that. Don't you go getting the wrong idea... I just - I - no, I just said you look slightly cuter than usual when you're worried. That doesn't - ugh - I am not implying - " 

"I get it, Evans. I was just messing," said James, his smile fading only ever-so-slightly. 

"But, if I, hypothetically, did think you were... cute... would you - would you hate that?" 

James's smirk spread. "Hmm... would I hate the idea of the girl I'm in love with having a crush on me? Now that I think about it, yeah, that sounds awful," he said sarcastically. 

Lily inched a little closer on the sofa. "You're in love with me?" All sense of humour had vanished from her expression. 

"Did I say that? Erm, no, of course not..." 

"Oh." 

"Why?" 

"Because... I think I - James, I really like you too... I think I even love you." 

James looked like a deer in the headlights. His eyes had widened, mouth hanging open slightly. Several expressions darted across his face as he processed what Lily had just said. 

"You - you - err - did you just... hang on - you - wait, what?" 

In a second of impulsivity, Lily reached forward and grabbed his red and gold striped tie, pulling him down so their lips collided. James let out a startled grunt but reciprocated with the same eagerness after a second. 

He pulled away after a minute, a shit-eating grin on his face. Lily smiled too, tucking a small strand of ginger hair behind her right ear, before kissing him again. Her hand caressed the back of his head, her fingers burying deeper in his black curls as they deepened the kiss. 

James's hands were exploring her upper body, snaking around her shoulders and, to his obvious joy, Lily was loving it. She took a breather for a second before pulling herself into James's lap, her thighs wrapping on either side of his waist. 

"Oh god," whispered James. "Lils..." 

"Yeah?" 

"Curfew. Prefect duty." 

"Fuck that." 

Needless to say, both were late to their prefect rounds and by the time they got up to the common room, holding hands, Remus had arrived back from the hospital wing. Their friends were in the usual place, Marlene and Dorcas making out in an armchair. Remus curled up on Sirius's lap, in almost the same position as Nico and Will. Alice's head was resting on Frank's shoulder with Mary curled up next to her. 

When James and Lily arrived, hands interlocked, the conversations stopped. Alice had her eyebrows raised, eyes meeting with Lily's as she wolf-whistled. 

"Fucking finally!" said Marlene. 

Sirius groaned as Remus said, "Ten galleons, Pads. A bet's a bet." 

"Fuck you! Remind me in the morning, you smug idiot." 

Remus smirked and kissed the other boy. "You love me." 

"Yeah, I do." 

When the pair sat down, still holding hands, Lily shuffled close to her new boyfriend, unable to wipe the smile from her face. 

Will caught her eye and said, "Told you that you liked him." 

Lily laughed lightly. "Yeah, you did. You were right. You could be some sort of matchmaker." 

Will smiled too. "You two look good together. Like you're made for each other." 

"Thanks," said Lily. She felt a squirming of butterflies in her stomach as she looked over at her boyfriend. Hazel eyes met green and their lips locked again. For those next precious seconds, they were the only two in that common room and they kissed like no one was watching. 

There was another wolf-whistle from Marlene and Dorcas's direction and cheers from the boys, but for once, she didn't care. Lily had James and everything just felt right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this isn't very long. But I've already got plans for the next chapter and I wanted a little bit of Jily fluff in there. It's gonna start getting angstier and darker after this now. 
> 
> Also, thank you to everyone for all the comments and kudos, they genuinely mean the world to me <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone realises just how serious the war in the outside world is becoming.

It was starting to get a lot colder now, especially up in Scotland. It was getting darker much earlier and it was becoming harder and harder to get out of bed in the mornings. Will was particularly struggling without the motivation of an early shift in the infirmary or missing breakfast with the rest of his cabin. Nico knew he missed his siblings. He himself missed Hazel, and Jason too. But Will was the Head Counsellor of his cabin and always had people to look after so was inevitably struggling with being without everyone they knew. 

That morning was Saturday, however, and the timings for breakfast at Hogwarts were much more relaxed than on weekdays so everyone got a much deserved lie-in. When the six boys finally emerged from the dorm, it was nearly eleven in the morning and the girls and Frank had already gone down to the Great Hall. 

Nico and Will sat with the others at the Gryffindor table as the post owls soared through the open windows. A barn owl carrying a rolled-up newspaper landed in front of Lily. She fished around in the pocket of her robe before dropping two little bronze coins into the felt bag around the owl's foot. It nuzzled against her hand, pecking her finger affectionately before vanishing back out the window. 

"Oh my God," came a sudden gasp after another minute or so. 

When Nico looked over, Lily looked close to tears, her eyes locked on the newspaper page spread in front of her. 

"What? What is it?" demanded James, worry etched on his features. 

"A - a muggleborn family's been murdered. Just a couple of villages away from my house. They're all dead." 

"Fuck," sighed Remus. 

"I'm sure your family will be okay," said James, though it was obvious no one truly believed his words. "It's not as if you're in the centre of all the fighting so why would they target your family when you aren't a threat to them." 

"Yet," said Lily. Her voice was a whisper, almost entirely inaudible. 

Nobody knew what to say. Even Sirius was silent as Lily showed them the rest of the article. It was purely sickening, but Nico couldn't look away until he'd read it all. It didn't go far into the details, but he understood the basics of it. 

"Does - does this stuff happen often?" asked Will after a long interval of horrified silence. 

"Um... yeah, it kind of does," said Marlene. She was staring at the table, an appalled, upset look on her face. "It's been happening for the past three or four years, since Lord Voldemort and his followers have become more open about their killings." 

"They gained hundreds more followers in just weeks," Dorcas continued. "It was too many for the Ministry to fight without it being futile." 

"So who's going to stop them, then?" asked Will. 

Sirius just shrugged. "Dumbledore's trying, of course. And so are the ministry, apparently. Not that they're making much of an impact." 

"Sirius," Lily chided half-heartedly. "I'm sure they're doing their best." 

"I'd hate to see their worse." 

Lily just rolled her eyes before turning the page of the newspaper again. "Oh, for Merlin's sake. Two more workers have gone missing from the Ministry and there was a vampire sighting in south London - the second in just a month." 

"For fuck's sake," said James, running a hand nervously through his hair. "At this rate, Voldemort will have won before we've even had a chance to do anything." 

"You _want_ to fight Voldemort?" said Remus perplexedly. 

"Of course I do, Moony! My girlfriend could die because of him. Sirius could - Merlin, _you_ could die because of him." 

Will frowned, glancing at Nico. "Why - why would Remus be killed?" 

James looked put on the spot for a second before Lily answered the question instead. "He's a half-blood and Voldemort hates half-bloods, and muggleborns, and pretty much everyone else." 

"Oh, right, of course, sorry," said Will. That seemed to be enough of an explanation for him, but Nico could sense something about that wasn't right. James hadn't meant that Remus was a half-blood when he said it. He'd been meaning something else. Nico couldn't help wondering if it had anything to do with his scars, but he didn't say anything. 

That morning, everyone was more subdued, even the first-years. By lunchtime, everyone had seen the article in the paper - Dumbledore even made a little speech about it, which, now that Nico thought about it, should probably be expected from a competent headmaster. 

By the end of the day, a group of Slytherin seventh-years had spoken to the professors and were trying to start a Defence club to help the older years prepare for the war they'd inevitably be facing. There were sign-up sheets in every house common room and the one in Gryffindor was overflowing with signatures. James, Sirius, Lily and their friends had all signed up, as well as Will and Nico. 

In the common room that evening, no one seemed in the mood for Exploding Snap or the usual obnoxiously boisterous parties, especially the sixth and seventh years. Most people were sitting in groups either studying or playing relaxed games of Wizards Chess. It didn't seem right to be enjoying themselves when somewhere out there, people were being killed and tortured unjustifiably. That had been made particularly clear today. 

At about quarter to eleven, Remus stood up. He looked at Sirius who got up too, automatically slipping his hand into his boyfriend's. James stood, holding a hand out to Lily with a little bow. She smiled as she took it, pulling him downwards for a kiss. 

"Come on, it's been a long day. Let's all head upstairs, yeah?" she said. "I think we could do with the sleep." 

Peter was in the middle of a yawn as he nodded in agreement, rubbing at his eyes slightly. "Yes, please." 

Nico was still wide awake, but that didn't stop Will from scooping him up, bridal style, and carrying him up the stairs with the others. Frank, Alice, James and Lily hung back slightly while the others went into the dormitories. 

Remus headed to the bathroom to change while Will just deposited Nico on their bed and flopped down next to him. Lily was right, it had been a long day. Nico didn't know who was worse: Kronos, Gaia or this Voldemort guy. And it had taken them so long and so much courage and effort to fight the former two that he had no idea how they'd manage the latter. They'd all lost so much and Nico honestly wasn't sure if he could go through all that again. If anything happened to Will... He refused to even think about it.

Unfortunately for Nico, his brain didn't quite work like that. As the other four boys in the dorm gradually fell asleep, Will cuddled up to his boyfriend, his eyes already drifting closed. 

"You okay, babe?" asked Will when Nico didn't reciprocate straight away. 

He knew he was staring into space and it was worrying Will, but he couldn't stop his thoughts from racing at a trillion miles per hour. His brain had spiralled past the simpler thoughts of doubt and worry and had fallen straight into the pit of almost overwhelming anxiety and self-hatred. 

Being the amazing boyfriend he was, Will must have seen this on Nico's face as he sat himself back up and brushed his dark, raven-black hair off his forehead. His fingers were cold, but gentle as he caressed Nico's cheeks and brought him in for a kiss. 

"Is everything alright, Death Boy?" 

Nico nodded, but it was a blatant lie. 

"Tell me what's wrong, baby. Please." 

"I - I'm just scared." 

"Okay. About anything in particular?" 

Nico's eyes darted downwards before coming back up to meet Will's. "The war... I - I don't know why my dad got me to do this... what if we can't, sunshine? What if I fail and - and they all die. What if I can't stop this Voldemort guy and everyone dies... including you? I can't survive without you, Will... you - you're basically what's kept me alive and I - I don't know what I'd do without you..." 

Still stroking his cheeks with his thumbs, Will stared into Nico's eyes and spoke gently, "Neeks, you're an amazing fighter, especially with a sword. You're dad has faith in you, as do I." He kissed his forehead before continuing. "I know you're mind's spiralling, but I'm here for you, baby. I'm not going anywhere." 

"But... what if - " 

"No, Nico. I'm not going anywhere. We can work through this situation together. I promise. We're in this together and I'm here for you. I always will be, Neeks. I love you." 

"I love you too." 

"Will you be able to get any sleep?" 

Nico shrugged. "Don't know... I can try, but it'll take a while..." 

"That's okay. I'll stay up with you until you're asleep, alright? We can talk for a bit, if you like? Or would you prefer silence?" 

"Let's talk." 

"Okay. I love you, baby," said Will, kissing his boyfriend again before curling back up next to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this one's relatively short and took ages to write - I am really sorry about that <3  
> But I've already started the next chapter, which'll be angstier and longer, and hopefully I'll be able to post it within ten days, maybe two weeks if we're being realistic. And it depends on how much homework I get and the tests I have, but yeah, I'm sorry about such a long gap between updates <3


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secrets are revealed and angst ensues before the second full moon of the year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did promise angst, so I hope you're ready <3 
> 
> Also, I've updated the previous chapter and added a little more angst in there too, not much but a little.

It was the middle of the night, just a day before the second full moon of seventh year. Remus was tossing and turning, unable to get comfortable from the excruciating pain shooting down his back. Everything ached and the early morning light that was filtering through his bed curtains did nothing for his pounding headache. 

With a muffled groan, Remus swung his legs over the edge of his bed and tiptoed over to Sirius's bed. Everyone else was asleep, their own curtains drawn. Small snores could be heard from both Peter and James's bed. 

"Padfoot," whispered Remus hesitantly. He hated how often he had to wake up his boyfriend, just because he couldn't sleep properly or because the pain of the foreboding full moon. "Pads." 

He opened Sirius's curtains and gently crept under the covers. Instantly, his boyfriend's arms wrapped around his torso, his head nuzzling into Remus's neck, almost exactly like a clingy puppy. 

"You alright, Moony?" he asked in his tired drawl. His voice had that croaky, sleep-deprived sound about it and Remus couldn't help finding it adorable. 

"Yeah..." 

"Stop lying. What's up?" 

"Um..." 

"Come on, you've woken me up now, you might as well tell me," said Sirius quietly. 

"Sorry." 

Remus could hear the smile in his boyfriend's voice. "Don't apologise, Moons. You know it's okay. Just tell me what's up." 

"It just hurts. It all hurts, and I couldn't sleep. I always sleep better with you." 

"I could give you a massage." 

"Nah, it's alright. I just - I just wanted to be with you." 

Sirius's smile spread wider and he sat up slightly to kiss Remus's forehead. "Merlin, I love you." 

Remus laughed a little sheepishly. "I love you too, Pads." 

"So then, why won't you tell me what's bothering you?" 

Remus's smile fades. "I - erm, it's nothing to do with you... I'm just - I'm just scared... The newbies are inevitably going to find out, and everything hurts... I - what are they going to say, Pads? They're bound to be scared or demand to move dorms or... not everyone's as nice as you lot..." 

"Moony, baby, everything will be okay. I know how painful it is for you. I understand - " 

"You don't understand, though, Padfoot," snaps Remus. "Sorry, it's just... if they find out, I could - I could, well, I don't want to think about that. But the outside world isn't nice to things like me... This Dark Lord guy claims he'll make it better, but no one likes us and they never will, and, as much as you try, you'll never be able to do anything about that. You'll never fully understand that." 

"I know, and I'm sorry, Rem. I really am. I'm never going to leave you, though. I'm here for you and I'll try and understand as much as I can. Moony, babe, James and I are becoming Aurors and we're not going to stop fighting for you. We love you, Moons and we always will." 

After a pause, Remus spoke again, his voice an almost inaudible whisper. "I'm scared, Sirius." 

"I know, Moony. I am too. We're all scared. You and I more than others. I've gotta fight my own family and you - well, I don't know how you're surviving with everything you've got going on, babe. But I love you. We all do. And I'll happily go down fighting as long as I'm fighting with and for you." 

Both were silent for several minutes and Remus was pretty sure Sirius had fallen asleep until he spoke again. "I love you, Moony. Merlin, I love you so fucking much." 

"I - I want to tell them, Pads." 

"What?" 

"I want to tell them. I want to tell Nico and Will what I am." 

"Are - are you sure? I know how terrifying that would be and you really don't have to if you don't want to, baby." 

After another few seconds, Remus spoke again, more sure of himself this time. "Yes, I'm sure. I want to tell them. They deserve to know what they're living with and... if they want to move afterwards or get me expelled, then that's fine too. I understand that. If they're going to be our friends, though, they deserve to know, just like you." 

"Merlin, I'm so, so, so proud of you, Moony. And we'll all be here for you too. James, Pete and I. We won't leave your side, no matter what, okay?" 

Remus nodded, snuggling further into the duvet and bringing his boyfriend with him. They cuddled up to each other, creating a tangled mass of limbs. Remus's hand ran through Sirius's hair as they kissed. 

"Let's get some sleep now, yeah?" whispered Sirius after almost half an hour. "It's the weekend so we can have a lie-in."

###### 

Remus looked terrified and James couldn't work out why, which worried him. He could always work out what was up with the others. They were his brothers and he couldn't rest if one of them was clearly upset or down about something. Remus hadn't let go of Sirius's hand all morning or eaten anything at breakfast either, no matter how much begging the other Marauders did. 

"Moony, please, are you okay, mate?" he asked. Surely Remus must know they were all worried about him. 

"I'm fine, James." 

"Well, that's a lie. How thick do you think we are?" 

Normally Remus would've given a sarcastic answer. Something along the lines of 'would you like an honest answer' or 'well, that's a loaded question' but today he said nothing, only glanced at his boyfriend who eventually answered for him. 

"Just drop it, James." 

Sirius had never really spoken to him like that before, except maybe in fifth year after The Prank or when he ran away from his home after that argument with his parents. But those had been tough times for them all, this wasn't. If something was going on with Remus, he should know by now that he could trust them. They'd become Animagi for him for Merlin's sake. 

After breakfast, the six of them went back to the common room. It was cold and rainy, so definitely not a great day for going outside, even though it was still only October, meaning the common room was fairly busy. First and second years were gathered in huge groups, books and games spread in front of them. They were shouting across the room, causing a racket that James knew would give Remus a headache, especially this close to the full moon. 

"Moons, fancy going up to the dorm?" he said. "It'll be quieter." 

Remus just nodded, still gripping Sirius's hand. It was like they were joined at the hip - James had never seen him this clingy. It was unnerving. If any of the Marauders were independent, it was Remus. 

"Want to come?" James asked Will, who glanced at Nico before nodding. 

"Actually, if you don't mind... could we talk without you two for a minute, please?" asked Sirius. 

"Sure," said Will with a shrug before him and Nico want to join the girls and Frank in the far corner of the common room. 

Sirius and Remus led James and Peter up to their dorm. The latter two turned to face the couple, almost identical questioning looks on their faces. 

"Are you finally going to tell us what's up?" demanded James. He couldn't help feeling a little annoyed at the situation now. 

Sirius glanced at his boyfriend who sighed. "I - I spoke to Pads last night and... and we need to tell them." 

"Explain," said James. 

"We need to tell Nico and Will what I am." 

"What? Why?" said Peter. 

"They deserve to know what they're living with. And it's too risky sneaking around like this. I'd rather they knew because we'd told them than finding it out themselves." 

James felt himself frowning. "But, Moons, we've no idea what they're going to say... are you sure? Are you sure about this?" 

Remus nodded. "They deserve to know if they're gonna be friends with us." 

"But..." began Peter before Remus interrupted. 

"If they're going to hate me, then I can live with that. I can even put up with being expelled or kicked out the dorm. We'll be facing a war in less than a year. There are bigger things worry about and if they're going to know, I want to be the one to tell them." 

"They - they might never find out, Rem. We can keep the secret. We've done it before," said James, but even as the words left his mouth, he knew they were a lie. 

"Okay, are you ready?" Sirius asked Remus gently. When the other boy nodded, he turned to Peter. "Wormy, can you fetch them?" 

Peter nodded before running back out to the common room. 

"Moony, are you absolutely sure about this?" asked James. He couldn't help being worried for his friend. Remus had never wanted someone to _know_ his secret before. He'd always been convinced that everyone who knew must hate him and there wasn't another option, so why would he voluntarily tell people? 

Remus nodded. 

"Rem, I don't want to say it, but we need to think of all the possibilities here. What if it doesn't go as well as hoped?" 

"You don't think I've thought of that?" said Remus. "I don't really care, to be honest. It's not as if I can get a job anyway, so what's it matter if I get expelled or worse?" 

"Don't think like that," chided Sirius. 

Remus only sighed. "I appreciate it, but when you're in the situation that I am, you learn pretty quickly that the world doesn't give a shit. I - maybe I just don't care what happens to me anymore." 

The dormitory door swung open before either James or Sirius could say anything and in walked Peter followed by the two boys he'd been sent to fetch. 

"Hey, everything okay?" said Will cheerfully. He had his hand knitted with Nico's, as usual, and was smiling. 

"We - we need to talk to you both about something," said Sirius, glancing nervously at his boyfriend. 

James still wasn't convinced. He couldn't stop the overwhelming worry about his friend. Yeah, Remus has always been a self-deprecating little shit, but he'd never been this self-destructive before. 

He frowned, watching avidly as Remus subconsciously shuffled nearer to Sirius until their shoulders touched. James could see his hands trembling, the tension building in his body. He hated how helpless he felt, watching his friend destroy himself with the anxiety, knowing there was nothing he could do. James's heart ached at the thought of everything Remus was putting himself through. 

"Essentially, there - um - there's something we - well, I need to tell you both..." began Remus, staring at the floor. 

James went over to join the couple, putting a comforting hand on Remus's shoulder. Normally, the other boy might've flinched or at least made some acknowledgement that he felt James's touch, but he did nothing. 

"What is it?" asked Will. "Is everything alright? Can we do anything to help?" 

"I - um - no, not really... It's complicated... and - um - if you - Merlin, I don't know what to say." 

"Do you want one of us to say it?" James asked quietly. 

Remus shook his head. "I have to do it myself." 

Nico was frowning, his eyes scanning over Remus, James and Sirius, like he was trying to read the secret just by staring. 

"Okay, so, um, basically..." he closed his eyes as he spoke so not to see their reaction. Remus had done this when talking to the others about it too. "I - I'm a werewolf." 

James's eyes were locked on the two Americans, trying to gauge how serious this was. He watched as Nico winced and took a step back, as if Remus was about to launch an attack. He saw Will exchanging a look with his boyfriend before Nico vanished from the room completely, like he'd just faded out of existence. 

"Dammit!" exclaimed Will and James felt Remus tensing beside him, curling even further into Sirius. Will seemed to remember the others were there as his face softened as he turned to them and said, "Shit, I'm really sorry about that." 

Remus was trembling; he was trying to hide it, though. He still refused to look up from the ground even with the encouragement from the others. 

Will stepped further forward then crouched slightly to try and make eye contact with the terrified werewolf. "Remus," he said tentatively. "I'm so, so sorry about how Neeks reacted, but I promise he isn't going to tell anyone - " 

"How - how can you know that?" 

"I know him better than anyone and I promise you he won't say a word. He's not like that." 

"Then why did he run off?" said James, practically snarling. In hindsight, it was a little fierce, but in his defence, he was standing up for his friend, his brother, and that mattered more than anything else. 

Kudos to Will, who didn't even flinch at James's tone. He just sighed before responding, "Don't tell him that I told you this but... a couple of years back, there was an... an incident. He - um - Nico was attacked by a werewolf and... well, you know about the nightmares so... you can probably work the rest out." 

"Fuck," said Sirius. "Will he be okay?" 

"Yeah, he'll be fine. I'll go and find him in a minute. Remus... are _you_ okay? I - um - I understand how frightening this must've been and I really am sorry about Nico." 

"It's not your fault," said Remus. He looked up from the floor, finally, and smiled tentatively at Will, who beamed in response. 

"You still look like you're about to faint," said Will after a second. "I could get some water; you should probably sit down too." 

"I'm okay." 

Will laughed slightly. "You're clearly not. I'm a doctor... well, a doctor-in-training, but the point still stands. Sirius, get your stubborn-ass boyfriend on the bed and Peter, get some water please. Remus, do you mind if I touch you? I'm just gonna be checking your temperature." 

Remus shrugged as Peter left for the bathroom to fetch a glass of water. Sirius dragged his boyfriend over to his bed and sat him down and Will followed after grabbing a couple of supplies from his bag. He checked Remus's heartbeat with a stethoscope before checking his temperature too, both with his hand and a thermometer. 

Peter came back with the glass of water and Will watched with a satisfied smile as Remus downed the lot. 

"Okay... so you're heartbeat's kinda elevated, but I suppose that should expected, um, and you have a bit of a temperature. Are you feeling okay?" 

Remus nodded. "Yeah... it's just - um - the full moon's in a couple of days." 

Will's face dawned with realisation. "Oh, shit, sorry, I didn't realise. You'll be okay, though, right?" 

"Yeah, I'll be fine." 

"Do you mind me asking... how long have you - um - " 

"I was bitten when I was four." 

"Gods. That's - wow - that's a long time... Hades! That's... I don't what to say. I'm - um - I'll go and find Nico... give you four some time alone." 

"Good idea," said Sirius. "Thanks for everything, Will. You're a cool guy." 

Will grinned. "Thanks. And thank you for telling us, Remus. It means a lot that you're trusting us with that. I promise Nico'll come around eventually - he's just not great with new people and y'all can be a lot to handle." 

Sirius and James laughed. "We get that a lot," said the latter. "You should've seen us in second year, right, Moony?" 

"Oh, Merlin, don't remind me," smiled Remus. He was clearly much more relaxed now, which James was very pleased to see. 

"Right, I'll see y'all later," said Will before leaving the dorm. 

The little tension that had still hung in the room finally dissipated. Remus laid back on the bed, shuffling to the side so Sirius could join him. 

"You okay, Moony?" asked James. 

Remus smiled and nodded. "That went a lot better than expected." 

"That's good, though, right?" said Sirius, kissing his boyfriend on the forehead then cheek. 

"Yeah, I suppose it is." 

"You suppose? Are you mad? Of course it's good!" said James. 

There was a knocking at the dormitory door a minute later and Lily's head of ginger curls appeared. She looked worried and her eyes instantly darted to James's then Remus and back to James. 

"Is everything okay?" she said. "Will was looking for Nico - he seemed panicked and wouldn't tell me what had happened." 

"Everything's alright, Lils," said James, taking his girlfriend's hand and kissing her cheek, loving how she blushed. "Rem just told the others about his furry little problem and Nico didn't take it too well." 

"Oh, Merlin, I'm sorry, Remus." 

"It's alright... Will doesn't think he'll tell anyone." 

Lily didn't look convinced. "How did _he_ take it?" 

"Surprisingly well, actually," said Remus. 

"He went all doctor-y on our Moony. Made him lie down, checked his temperature and everything," said Sirius. 

Lily laughed. "That's really sweet of him. It was so brave of you to tell them, so I'm so proud of you for that. And if anyone can talk Nico around, it's Will. Don't worry about it, yeah, Remus?" 

He nodded. "Thanks, Lily."

###### 

Where would Nico go? He'd shadow travelled so nowhere that was very light. And nowhere with lots of people either. It would take anyone else maybe days to find the other boy, but Will knew his boyfriend very well and he'd be damned if he couldn't find him within the hour. 

He'd already checked the Gryffindor common room. Where else had the other boys taken them? The kitchens? No, the house-elves would get on his nerves. He checked all the secret tunnels that they'd been shown, but they were all empty. What about somewhere outside? Nico had never shown an interest in Quidditch so he probably wouldn't go there. Plus, weren't Ravenclaw out practising? What about Hagrid? The boys had taken them there back in September and Nico had instantly fallen in love with his dog. She probably reminded him of Mrs O'Leary. 

Hagrid answered the door after just one knock and smiled down at the son of Apollo. "Y'alright, Will," he said cheerfully. 

"Um... have you seen Nico?" 

"Yeah, he's in here. Come on in, kiddo." 

Hagrid's puppy, Fang, was curled up on Nico's lap. They both looked up as Will walked in and Nico smiled. 

"Didn't take you long you to find me," he said. 

"I know you too well," said Will with a grin. He turned back around to face Hagrid. "Um... sir, would you mind - um - I need to talk with Nico about something kinda private." 

"Oh, right, of course. I'll be in the veggie patch if yer need me." 

"Thank you, sir." 

"Help yerself to biscuits if yer like." 

"Thanks, Hagrid," said Nico, surprisingly relaxed considering what had happened just half an hour before. 

Will sat down in the armchair opposite the sofa - he was tall, yet he was still completely swallowed by it. It must have been easily at least twice as tall as him. 

"Are you okay?" 

"Yeah, of course." 

Will raised an eyebrow disbelievingly. 

"What?" said Nico. Will said nothing, just watching as Nico's façade crumbled in front of him. "Fine. You win. No... no, I'm not alright." 

"Okay, now you've admitted it, we can work on that, see?" 

Nico just rolled his eyes. "Trust me to fall in love with a doctor." 

Will laughed nonchalantly, but he could feel his cheeks flushing slightly. "You gave Remus a right fright. He was fucking terrified." 

At least Nico had the decency to look a little ashamed at that. "I know. Did you tell him I was sorry?" 

Will nodded. 

"It wasn't his fault... I just - I heard that word and panicked. You know what happened with Lycaon and I just couldn't bear to think of it." 

"I know, and I explained that. Not all of it, don't worry, just the basics." 

"But... he's - he's a werewolf, Will." 

"Yeah, he is." 

"What am I supposed to do when someone tells me that? That's not something you just spring on someone!" 

Will sighed. "I suppose. I think he'd been thinking about telling us for a while. And if it's our job to protect them, then we don't really have much of a say in what happens. We have to be friends with them, Neeks." 

"I know that... it's just - I didn't want to have to fight monsters as well as this Voldemort guy and if there are werewolves here too - " 

"Remus isn't a monster, Neeks," said Will firmly but gently too. He didn't need Nico to think he was angry with him because he wasn't. It wasn't his fault what he'd been through. 

"I know that..." said Nico, but it wasn't very convincing. "Just... if there are werewolves then some of them are going to be bad, surely..." 

"I understand, but there isn't anything we can do about that." 

Nico sighed again, his hand running down Fang's back, probably trying to comfort himself more than the puppy. 

"Come on, let's go and talk to the others," said Will. "Remus is petrified; he deserves an explanation, I think." 

Nico nodded in agreement before carefully lifting Fang up in his arms. The puppy was almost asleep and it was adorable watching Nico try not to wake him. He gently laid him down on the sofa, still stroking his soft little head. Nevertheless, after another minute, Fang was up on his feet, excitedly yapping at their ankles, trying to stop them leaving. 

"Bye bye, Fang, I'll come and see you again," Nico promised lovingly, scratching behind his ears. 

They shouted a goodbye and thank you to Hagrid, who waved, before heading back towards the castle.

###### 

A game of Exploding Snap had started by the time Nico and Will returned to the dorm. James had an arm around Lily, almost identically to Sirius and James. They were all gathered around Remus's bed, sharing packets of Bertie Botts and Chocolate Frogs as they played. 

Everyone looked up as the two Americans walked in and Sirius felt Remus tensing in his arms immediately. With a small shuffle, Sirius took hold of his boyfriend's hand and squeezed reassuringly. Remus squeezed back slightly, his eyes drifting downwards to stop himself looking at either Nico or Will. 

"Hey," said Will with fake cheerfulness. He brought Nico towards them all despite the other boy's obvious hesitance. "We're really sorry about earlier, Remus." 

After a few seconds of silence, Remus must have realised that everyone was waiting on him for an answer. "It - it's okay." 

"It's not okay, Remus," said Lily quietly. "You shouldn't feel obligated to accept their apology." 

"Lils is right," said Will. "It's okay if you don't want to talk to us or forgive us." 

"No... it's okay..." said Remus. "People won't apologise to me often because of what I am, so when they do, I have to accept it. If I didn't, I'd be left with no one." 

"That's not true," said Peter. 

Remus just smiled a little sadly. "It is. But don't worry about it. I forgave you the instant it happened. Please, don't worry about it." 

"Sorry but, I still don't trust you," said Nico, the suspicion, and maybe a hint of fear, glinting in his dark eyes. 

"Hey! - " started Sirius. 

He was interrupted by Remus who grabbed his arm to stop him getting too angry. "It's fine, Pads." He turned to Nico. "I understand and I'm not asking you to trust me, be my friend or even talk to me. I'll happily move dorms if you'd prefer just... please don't tell anyone." 

All eyes were on Nico. Sirius, James and Lily were all glaring, looking like they were prepared to murder. Peter looked nervous as did Remus. He was staring at the floor, occasionally glancing at the others in the room, waiting for something to happen. 

Nico opened his mouth to answer, looking ashamed and anxious. What right did he have to look so worried? 

"I - um - I'm not going to tell anyone," he said, frowning and looking away. "I am sorry - just... why is a werewolf in a school, with children?" 

"Nico!" said Will, glaring at him too. 

"It's okay," placated Remus, but he was clearly uncomfortable. Sirius took his hand again, exchanging a look with him to check he was all right. "To answer your question, I don't know. I don't think I should be here, either, but Dumbledore said he'd worked it out." 

"Right..." said Nico. "I'm - um - I'm just going to go to bed..." 

Nico didn't bother going into the bathroom or changing into pyjamas before clambering into his and Will's bed and closing the curtains around him. The rest of the dorm remained silent for a minute; clearly nobody knew what to say. Now that Nico had gone, James, Lily and Remus seemed to relax slightly, so Sirius did too, still clutching his boyfriend's hand. 

Will sighed. "I'm really sorry about that. He - he will come around..." 

"It's okay," said Remus. "I understand." 

"It's not okay, Remus!" said Sirius - he hadn't used Remus's actual name for as long as he could remember. He'd been trying to hold back his anger, but it hadn't worked. "You were fucking terrified and you're just letting this happen!" 

Remus just looked at Sirius and said nothing. The look in his eyes was enough to shut him up. 

"I'm going to go," said Will, motioning to the bed. "Sorry, and I'll see you in the morning." 

"Night, Will," came a chorus from the others. Remus even offered him a hug, which Will took happily, whispering another apology. 

"Are you okay?" asked Sirius that night. 

Remus nodded. Sirius knew it was a lie, but there was nothing he could do. He'd seen Remus in one of these moods before and it was impossible to get him out. 

"Right, well, I'm here for you. And I love you." 

"I love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell I don't know how to end chapters? XD  
> I haven't really edited this one much cos it's quite long. Please let me know if you see any mistakes or plot holes et cetera :)  
> This was a lot longer than I expected, but I'm really looking forward to the next one so hopefully that'll be up soon as well - especially as I'm off school for the next week thanks to Miss Rona *rolls eyes*


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More angst! Yay!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at this.. wow.. an update after just a few days. Gods, I'm actually quite proud of myself for this XD

The next two nights, Remus didn't sleep a wink. He was utterly exhausted but no matter what, couldn't get comfortable enough to drift off. That first night, after nearly three hours of tossing and turning, he'd gone to Sirius, who'd welcomed him into his bed. Even then, with Sirius's comforting arms around him, Remus couldn't relax. 

It wasn't just everything that had happened with Nico. The pain of the full moon increased every second, making it impossible for Remus to think about anything else. The other Marauders had instantly picked up on the fact that it was worse than normal and were all chipping in to help. Peter was almost constantly running to grab mountains of chocolate from the kitchens or Honeydukes, occasionally bringing back flasks of hot chocolates and teas. James, as the unspoken mum of the group, could tell if somewhere was too loud or crowded and would lower his voice without being asked, as did the others. He seemed able to tell as soon as Remus needed help or was tired and would instantly be there to help, if Sirius wasn't already. 

Remus was incredibly grateful. He couldn't put it into words and whenever he tried, the others just told him to shut up, insisting that it didn't matter as he'd do the same for them. Still, he hated going to them for help, even when he needed it. He couldn't help feeling pathetic for being so dependent on his friends. It wasn't their job to look after him. 

That was why, on the morning of the full moon, Sirius was having a hard time convincing Remus not to get up and stay in bed all day. He could barely move from the pain, for Merlin's sake, but still wanted to go to lessons. 

"Please, Moony," Sirius was begging. Remus could see he was strongly considering actually getting on his knees. "Prongs will explain to McGonagall, you know she'll understand." 

"That's not the point," complained Remus. "I can't just skip whenever I want." 

James rolled his eyes. "Moons, this isn't skipping. You're ill!" 

"Very ill," added Peter. 

"What's going on?" asked Will as he came out the bathroom. Nico was still in there, awkwardly trying to avoid a confrontation with the other boys, as he'd been doing the past couple of days. 

Sirius glanced at Remus, checking for permission, before answering. "It's the full moon tonight. It hurts Moony like hell, he can barely move, yet he's trying to convince us he's okay to go to lessons." 

Will took one look at the werewolf, his eyes flicking up and down before he said, "You're not going to lessons. I'm sorry, but you can't." 

"I appreciate the concern, but I'm fine, thank you." 

Will raised an eyebrow sceptically. "Bullshit. You're even worse at this than Nico. If you're going to lie and try to hide it, at least do it well." 

Remus had nothing to say to that, so didn't say anything, which caused Sirius to shoot him a triumphant look. 

"James," he said, "tell McGoogles we're - " 

"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill by now," said James. "Pete, let's head off. Moons, we'll see you later. Pads will look after you. Um, Will, are you waiting for Nico?" 

Will nodded. 

"Right, we'll see you all later then." 

James and Peter left, leaving Remus with Sirius and Will. The former ran a hand through his boyfriend's curly brown hair, kissing his forehead gently. 

"You're burning up a little, baby. Are you alright?" 

Remus nodded. "As well as I can be," he said. "Can you close the curtains? My head's killing me." 

"Of course," said Sirius, obediently standing up and drawing the curtains across the window in the dorm. "Would you like any water? Or some breakfast?" 

"I can't eat. I'll throw up if I try." 

Remus's stomach was squirming at just the thought of food, ready to puke it back up the instant he swallowed. 

"You'll need the energy, Moons," said Sirius. He sounded reluctant and clearly didn't want to argue with Remus. 

"I don't care about that at the moment. I just wanna sleep. It hurts too much, Pads, I can't be bothered to do anything else." 

"Alright. Mind if I join you?" 

"It'd be a pleasure," grinned Remus, shuffling carefully to the side as Sirius clambered to lay next to him. 

"Nico and I will get out your hair, then," said Will. "I really hope everything goes okay, Remus. I wish I knew more about it and could help." 

With a small glance at his boyfriend, Remus smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'll be okay. I'll have more help than you might realise." 

Will obviously didn't understand as a confused expression appeared on his face. After a second, he just shrugged and went to get Nico out of the bathroom, knocking on the door impatiently and complaining that he didn't want to be late. 

When the other boy finally emerged, he refused to even look in the direction of Remus and Sirius, keeping his gaze firmly on the floor or Will as he changed into the Gryffindor uniform and left the dorm. 

Will was about to follow after him and leave the other two alone, when he looked back and said, "He'll come around. I don't want you to stress about it as that'll inevitably make this worse. I know I don't know you well, and it isn't my place to say, but I don't like seeing you hurt, Remus. This isn't your problem, it's Nico's and he will come around." 

"How can you be so sure?" asked Sirius. 

"I know Nico. I'll see you both later. Get some sleep." 

With a final polite smile, Will left, closing the door quietly behind him. Remus and Sirius lay in silence, just enjoying each other's company for a while. The latter had his arm around Remus's shoulder, a hand running through his tawny curls. 

"How are you now?" he asked after nearly half an hour. Remus had rested a hand on Sirius's chest, feeling as he breathed slowly in and out. 

"Tired, and it still hurts, but I'm okay." 

"You ought to try and get some sleep, at least." 

Remus nodded, wincing a little at the movement. It wasn't as bad as it would be after tonight, though, and for that, he had to be grateful. At least he still had a couple of hours left of being human.

###### 

Seven hours later, Remus woke up to Sirius gently shaking his shoulder. He desperately wanted to close his eyes and go back to sleep, his body aching all over, but at the same time, the pain was too much. 

Sirius smiled a little sadly, brushing the hair off Remus's forehead and kissing him. With a yawn, he climbed out of the bed and got Remus a glass of water from the bathroom before carefully helping him sit up to drink. 

They stayed there for a while, Sirius occasionally helping Remus drink or eat something from the tray that James and Peter had brought up at lunchtime. Both were silent, Sirius massaging Remus's back gently with the latter's head rested on his shoulder. They breathed slowly, in and out together. 

Sirius smelled of home. It was a warm, musky smell, with a hint of cigarette smoke. Remus couldn't imagine loving anyone else like he did Sirius. 

"Moons," said Sirius quietly after a long while, "I hate this as much as you do, but it's time to go. We'll meet the others there." 

Remus nodded with tired resignation, taking a deep calming breath before putting an arm around Sirius's shoulder so the other boy could help him up. It took a couple of minutes as both were being tentative, Sirius overly aware of the pain Remus was in and so evidently hiding. He always did. 

"Come on, Moony. Where's your bag?" 

"Under the bed," Remus managed, still tired and clearly hurting. 

Leaving Remus sitting on the bed, Sirius rummaged and found his bag, double checking it had everything the four of them needed - clothes, shoes, bandages and other medical supplies. 

"Right, that's it Moons, we're off." 

James and Peter were already waiting at the Shrieking Shack when the other two got there, sitting on the sofa, just talking and playing cards together. 

"Hey there, you two," said James cheerfully, probably trying to distract Remus with his upbeat mood. "Moony, Pete and I have got notes for you in our bags." 

"Thanks." 

Remus's voice was croaky with the sleep, his head pounding from the exhaustion and pain of just existing. With help from his friends, Remus settled on the sofa before getting undressed ready for the transformation. Sirius passed him a blanket to maintain his modesty before James and Peter turned around. It was a routine by now. 

As the sun continued to set, and the beginning of the transformation dawned ever nearer, the tension in the room increased. James and Sirius seemed desperate to keep the tone light-hearted. The longer they did, the more relaxed Remus would be. And they needed him to be stressed as little as possible. 

"Are you alright, Moons?" asked Sirius, just minutes before the moon was set to rise. "Is there anything we can do?" 

Remus shook his head slightly, wincing a little at the pain. "You - you might want to transform soon," he managed before coughing from the effort. 

"Don't worry, Moony, we know when," reassured James. "We won't let anything happen." 

"I believe that's what you said last time." 

"Oh, but come on! Nothing happened," said Sirius. 

"It was a very near miss." Remus coughed again, his eyes slowly drifting closed from the overwhelming fatigue. 

"A near miss is still a miss," said James, shrugging. 

"That's not the point," said Remus quietly, but he obviously couldn't be bothered to argue. "Just - promise me you'll be careful." 

"We promise, Moony. We won't let anything happen. We promise," said Sirius, kissing his boyfriend's forehead between each sentence. "We promise, Moony."

###### 

Nico collapsed onto his and Will's bed, leaning back against the wall. It had been a long day of school and he hadn't understood a word. Luckily, neither had Will, so at least he wasn't alone. 

The common room had been packed with people, but the dorm was silent, with no sign of any of the other boys. Lily, the other girls and Frank had been in the common room, but Nico definitely didn't feel like talking with any of them, not after the other day. 

"Where're the others?" he said out loud to the room. 

"It's the full moon tonight, remember?" said Will. 

"Oh, right, yeah, of course." 

A slightly awkward silence fell over the room. Nico didn't know what to say and he couldn't help thinking Will was angry with him. His boyfriend was still really friendly with the others, chatting and laughing along with them, but Nico wasn't. Sirius and James especially had become particularly cold towards him. Not that he could blame them, of course. Nico wouldn't blame them if they tried to kick him out the dorm after everything. 

"You know," said Will thoughtfully, "you're very like Remus, if you think about it." 

"What do you mean?" 

Even as he said it, Nico could kind of see where Will was coming from. For years of his life, he'd been a social outcast because of something he couldn't help: being a son of Hades. But this was different, wasn't it? Remus was a monster. Werewolves were monsters. They were dangerous. Nico had been attacked by one, for gods' sake! That sort of thing shouldn't be in a school and he was right to question that, wasn't he? 

"Just you seem very similar in how you think about people and how you think they see you." 

Nico frowned and hated that he could understand exactly where Will was coming from. Why did Will have to talk so much sense?

That next morning, when Nico woke up, James, Sirius and Peter had returned to the dorm. Remus, however, was still nowhere to be seen. By the looks of it, none of the three boys had slept; they all had bags under their eyes and moved as slow as sloths. Peter was asleep, face down on his bed, but both James and Sirius were awake - well, if you could call it that. They might as well have been sleepwalking. 

Will woke up a few minutes later and James woke Peter as the five of them lethargically got ready for the day ahead. It took longer than usual as they were all so tired. James kept yawning and Peter almost fell asleep where he was standing. The only one of the three who seemed okay was Sirius, who was pacing up and down, glancing out the window anxiously, even more jittery than normal. 

"Padfoot, mate," after nearly two minutes of watching Sirius pacing up and down their dorm room. "Just relax. You know he'll be okay." 

"It was worse than normal this time, Prongs," said Sirius, nervously. "You saw him afterwards. I haven't seen him that bad since that time in fifth year." 

"Just don't go into a spiral of blaming yourself like you did then," mumbled James, running a hand through his hair as he tied his tie. 

"That's because it was my fault," snapped Sirius. 

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry, Pads, but it isn't your fault this time so don't stress it." 

"They do this a lot after a full moon," said Peter to Will. He yawned before explaining further. "Sirius gets anxious about Rem and James gets irritated when he's tired as does Sirius. Once Moony gets back it'll all calm down again." 

"Where is he?" asked Will. 

"Hospital wing," said Peter through another yawn. "Madame Pomfrey - that's the nurse - has to patch him up." 

"Why does he need patching up?" asked Nico. 

"That's none of your business," said Sirius with a glare. 

Nico got the hint and shut up, retreating a little toward his and Will's bed to keep out the way of the others. 

"Pads, are you waiting here?" asked James after another couple of minutes of awkward silence. 

Sirius nodded. "Tell McGonagall - " 

"Yeah, I know. See you later then, mate." 

They didn't even ask if Will and Nico were going with them before James and Peter left, hauling their school bags over their shoulders. Nico knew that if he wasn't there, Will would've been invited. If he wasn't there, Will would already be best friends with the others and they'd have been much further in their mission. 

Nothing was said for the next ten minutes - Sirius wouldn't even look in Nico's direction - until the door opened again to reveal Remus. He looked pale and was clearly ill. He was limping as he closed the door behind him and it seemed like ever step, every tiny little movement, was causing him unbearable pain. After leaning against the closed door to breathe for a minute, he glanced over at his boyfriend and smiled. 

"Morning, Pads." 

Sirius sighed and grinned before rushing over to help Remus to his bed. He helped Remus settle against the pillows, tucking the blanket around him, before kissing him lightly on the cheek. 

"I love you, Moons," he said softly. "Don't scare me like that again, you hear me." 

Remus nodded with a tired smile. "I'm sorry, Padfoot." 

"I was - I haven't seen it like that since fifth-year. You - you know I'm sorry about that, don't you? Merlin, I'm sorry, Moony." 

"I forgave you years ago. You know that. What's brought this on?" 

Nico couldn't help like him and Will were intruding on something incredibly private so crept out the room, making sure Will was following behind him. He doubted the other two had even noticed they'd left. 

In the common room, Lily beckoned them over. Well, to be more precise, she beckoned Will over and Nico followed. Alice and Frank were sat on the sofa, holding hands and talking quietly between them. Dorcas was perched on Marlene's knee, her afro in the other's face as they chatted with the others. 

Will and Lily instantly started talking like best friends, the others joining in occasionally too. This feeling of loneliness was becoming a frequent occurrence. It was all too familiar; he'd had years like this, completely isolated, and he definitely didn't want that to happen all over again. 

Sirius appeared from the dorm a couple of minutes later and left the common room. Nico waited a minute before an idea came to his head. Will was right: this needed to be sorted out and he was the only one who could do that. 

"I'll be back," he said quietly to Will. "You can go down to breakfast without me if you need to." 

Will frowned but when Nico said nothing else he shrugged. "See you later then." 

After a deep breath, he went in the opposite direction to Sirius, up to the dorm. His hands were clenched in fists, his stomach churning with anxiety, but Nico had made up his mind and nothing was going to change that. 

He knocked on the door before entering. The room was silent; Remus was curled up in bed but wasn't sleeping. His breathing was too fast and Nico had sensed the slightest movement when he'd come in. As the other boy sat up, confusion evident on his face, Nico hated watching the fear glimmering in his eyes. Remus's shoulders were tense and he looked like he expected some sort of attack. 

"Hi," began Nico tentatively, not moving any nearer than a metre or two. "You - um, you can tell me to fuck off if you'd like." 

Remus frowned, looking him up and down before shaking his head. "No... it's okay..." 

Nico took a deep, shaky breath. "I - I came to apologise." 

"What?" Remus looked very taken aback, like that was the last thing he'd ever anticipated. "Are you - what?" 

"I'm sorry. I - gods, I'm not good at this so just give me a minute to work out what to say." 

Remus was still looking at him in surprise. 

"Okay, so, basically, I'm sorry. I - when you - I was just shocked... scared," he admitted almost inaudibly. "I was scared."

"Of me?" 

"No - yes - well, not specifically of you... just - just of what - what you... oh gods, I'm sorry. Remus, I'm not scared of you." 

Remus raised an eyebrow sceptically but he didn't say anything. 

"Honest, I'm not," said Nico. He took another few hesitant steps towards Remus's bed, glancing at the door with his nerves. "I - I imagine Will told you what happened..." 

Remus nodded. 

"Well, let's just say, a lot of shit's happened and I'm sorry for lashing out at you because of that." 

"It's okay." 

"Can - um - can we be friends again?" 

Remus nodded again and smiled. "I'd like that. Do you - um - have any questions about the whole werewolf thing? I know it's a lot to take in." 

"Does it hurt?" 

"Like fucking hell," said Remus with a bitter laugh. "Why do you think I was in bed all day yesterday? And I doubt I'll be doing much today, either." 

Nico's eyes scanned over the other boy, taking in ever scar on his face, neck and hands. He looked completely exhausted, more tired than the others did this morning. He always looked pale and a little ill, but it was twenty times worse today. 

"Is it - is it normally this bad? I didn't notice this last month and Sirius said it hadn't been this bad for years..." 

Remus seemed a little reluctant to answer that one, but after a second he opened his mouth and spoke. "No. It isn't always like that... it's - it gets worse when I'm under stress or overly anxious." 

Nico kept his eyes on Remus's face, just watching for a second before he realised: this was all his fault. It was his fault Remus was so much worse today than normal. He felt his jaw dropping and the guilt washing over him like a tsunami. 

"Fuck. Oh, shit, I'm sorry. I - I did this, didn't I?" he said, his voice quiet and shaky. 

"It wasn't your fault." 

Nico closed his eyes with the guilt. He could barely look at Remus now without feeling worse about himself. 

"Gods, I'm sorry. Is - is there anything I can do to help?" he asked doubtfully. 

Remus shook his head. "No, it's okay. You've already done so much just by apologising. I was expecting a lot worse when I told you." 

"What did you expect?" 

"To be kicked out? Expelled? At the very least I was expecting you to want me to move dorms and never go near you again." 

Nico frowned. "Will said something... he said that we were very similar... and - and I think he was right." 

"Do you mind elaborating?" 

"Um... I can't tell you what exactly, but a couple of years back, I was in pretty much the same situation as you. There's a reason for people to hate me - not just the gay thing - and for about four years they did. No one spoke to me. I - I was homeless just because I could see how much the others hated me. My - um - my sister died when I was ten... and after that, I didn't have a friend or anyone to talk to or anything until I was fifteen," said Nico. He didn't know why he was telling the other boy all of this, but in a way, it was nice to talk about it. "So, I suppose, that all just makes me so much more sorry. I know what it's like to be hated and shunned, so again, I'm sorry. I wish there was more I could do." 

"I'm really sorry about your sister, Nico. I was alone for several years too. My parents wouldn't let me talk to anyone or - or go to school. I'm a danger to others and - well, we couldn't risk something like me getting in contact with other people, especially children." 

Nico furrowed his eyebrows thoughtfully. "You - you don't seem dangerous." 

Remus smiled sadly. "Trust me, I am. But, please don't worry about it, Nico. As I said, I'm really sorry about your sister and everything. I was expecting a lot worse and I forgive you." 

Nico smiled. "Thank you. You're a great friend." 

Remus grinned too, just as the door burst open to reveal Sirius. He was holding a tray of food after clearly having been to the kitchens. As soon as his eyes landed on Nico, however, he frowned in angered confusion. 

"What are _you_ doing here?" he snarled. 

Clearly, James and Sirius had only been holding back their hostility because Will was there and now he wasn't, Sirius was perfectly okay with releasing his anger freely. He put the tray down on his bed, never once letting his eyes move away from glaring at Nico. 

"Padfoot, leave him alone," said Remus. "He came to apologise." 

"An apology doesn't fix things, Moony. An apology can't fix this," he said, motioning to Remus. "An apology won't get rid of those damned scars you hate so much." 

"Sirius," said Remus more firmly and the other boy shoulder's visibly relaxed. He was still shooting daggers in Nico's direction, though. "He apologised to me, and we chatted for a bit and we're friends again, okay?" 

"Chatted about what?" 

Nico hoped Remus wasn't about to tell. He hadn't intended to say everything that he did and he definitely didn't want the others knowing yet. 

"That doesn't matter. All that does matter is that everything can go back to normal. Now, bring me my breakfast and get in," Remus grinned, budging to the side to make room for Sirius. 

"I - I'll see you later," said Nico. 

"Bye, and thanks again," Remus called after him. 

Nico smiled a final smile before leaving back into the common room. The others had gone, but Lily and Will had decided to wait for him. Will beamed as he approached, probably noticing Nico's change in mood. Lily was still frowning as she looked at him, clearly still angry. 

"You've cheered up," said Will. 

"I apologised," explained Nico. "Remus and I talked... and stuff... and we're friends now." 

Lily's expression changed like a switch, and she was grinning, practically jumping up and down with her newfound joy. "Merlin, finally!" she said. 

"I'm proud of you, Neeks," said Will, taking his hand and kissing his knuckles gently. 

Still hand in hand, with Lily by their side, the couple went downstairs to the Great Hall to join the others for breakfast. That feeling of loneliness had finally vanished.


End file.
